Hopefully we can show enough people that the complexity of Word is very rarely used.
That may be true, but I happen to use some of the features enough that I really do need them. The biggest deal for me is the ability to track revisions and add comments (notes) to documents. I do *a lot* of collaborative authoring, and while it might seem like these features could be handled in other ways, Word really does do them best. (I think I just had a heart attack uttering that phrase.)
While I agree that dependence on Word is bad, the real issue isn't Word attachements themselves, or getting people to stop sending them... RMS should remember that people *should be free to choose Word as well*. The really issue should be lobbying M$ to *stop changing the damn format* and *standardize on a format.* Perhaps something XML based...
Well, it's been a few weeks since the switch here in Chicago, and I can tell you overall it was pretty painless. AT&T *did* switch me over within the 5-7 days they promised, and the switch over was very easy (even with my Linksys and 802.11b).
That said, there is a speed cap, which is pretty annoying. I got really *stellar* downloads with @Home (sometimes as high as 4Mbps) and nearly as stellar uploads. The 1.5Mpbs download cap, while bothersome, is not nearly as troubling as the 128Kbps upload cap. I have a server co-located at an ISP (I used to work there) and I upload quite a bit. I am no running a server at home over the cable modem, but since I do use it to communicate both ways with my co-located server, the upload cap is a *real* pisser.
I've purchased *many* refurbished items... I've owned refurb laptops, my 900MHz phone is a refurb, a video camera... the list goes on and on, and I've *never* had a problem with a refurb. Keep in mind that a factory refurb means that it might have been broken (it also might have worked but not quite been up to spec) but that it was then basically reconstructed with OEM parts, and refurbs usually carry a limited warranty. Of course it's caveat emptor with even *new* equipment, but I for one have had excellent luck with factory refrubs.
I'm back up in Chicagoland now... I was down from Saturday morning until mid-day today (Tuesday). Overall, not bad, although I wish ATT wouldn't play poker with my net connectivity...
We should give AT&T credit for handling this well and for getting us online in half the time they originally promised.
Not so fast... I'm in Chicago, which is a pretty big market, and I'm still not on-line. Why don't we see how long it takes them to get *everyone* back on-line before we start suckin' each other's dicks?
As well, it appears that the folks who were using AT&T's brand of Excite@Home are back online - as this press release said.
Um, well, first... that press release doesn't say that everyone is back on-line... in fact, it's a release from Saturday. Here, it's Tuesday. Can Hemos read??
Second, since I am an ATT Broadband customer in Chicago, sitting here dialed in using a 56k modem, I can assure you that ATT customers are *not* all back on-line. Contrary to the attitude in SF, the bay area does not constitute the entire world...
Re:What it'll do for me
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 1
Use public transportation again because it solves the mid-range travel problem of getting to/from the bus terminal/train station
Yeah, and then lugging a 60lb. "IT" On the train with you... there isn't (from what I've seen) any way to "lock IT" to a bike rack. And if you take up the space of a person on the train with your IT next to me, I'll chuck IT out the f'n window.
Save about $4000 a year on parking fees in Boston, since I'll be able to put the car out in the burbs somewhere where parking is cheap
Good. You'll need that 4k to afford IT.
Get around town generating absolutely no pollution
Right... and the electric fairies will charge it for you, generating absolutely no pollution at all!
Please. I think IT is cool as hell. But for the *majority* of city commuters, it's a toy. I live in Chicago, I think that qualifies as a major city... this thing would be useless for most commuters who use any of the major expressways to get to/fro the city. They have commutes of 10-20 miles, and this thing isn't fast enough. Let alone, where do they ride it? On the Kennedy? Ha!
And while we're at it, let me ask you this: how well is "IT" going to handle lake effect snow? Hmmm? Hey, you're in Boston, right? Do you enjoy riding your bike outdoors in Boston winters? Or rain? A bike can actually go *faster* for 1/10th the price tag, my bike balances pretty well, maybe yours doesn't, and my bike doesn't pollute *or* require charging. Hmmm....
So I guess if you're a lazy s.o.b. who lives in year round sunny California and can blow several grand on a toy, this is technology that will change the world!! Oh wait, that's Steve Jobs, isn't it.
I don't think it would... What happens if you are on an IT and the batteries die? (For whatever reason). If you're in traffic, you're f'd. At least on a bike you are under your own power.
Look, I'm an avid motorcylist, and I think "IT" is pretty cool. But at $3k, it's a rich guy's toy... and I'm sorry, the average schmuck on the street going 10mph on one of these things could be downright *dangerous*.
Re:IT's not for you!
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 3, Troll
This thing is not for rich suburban white guys who hang out on internet all day. Its for postmen and chinamen.
Of course! How silly of me!! Of course the average citizen in a chinese city could afford an *electric* scooter with a $3k USD price tag!
Tell me, do you, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs smoke crack together or alone in your biodomes?
What really sucks is that I just moved to Chicago in May, and the area where I am was served by Prime Cable/ExpressNet... talk about shitty service! It was *horrible*... I once had one of their *customer services* representatives tell me on the phone "Well, it's going to be down as long as it's down. Maybe you should just get another provider." Of course, thanks to protected cable monopolies I *couldn't* (RCN doesn't offer modems here for some reason).
Well, along came ATT, bought out Prime, and then my cable modem rocked, although my cable channel line-up still bites donkey dongs (no Food Network???). Now, I come home yesterday to nada... zip... and this 7-10 days B.S. when ATT **KNEW** this was coming is a joke. I'm really beginning to hate my decision to move to this city...
Honestly, you don't pay for local stations, the advertisers do. So its not really your choice.
Yes I do. I pay my cable system for all of the stations. And if you have a satellite, you pay an extra fee for the local station package.
I *do* pay for television, and they are really using the programming as a vehicle for advertising anyway. So to ask that the actual small bit of programming we do get be logo free doesn't seem too much to ask.
You almost have to make it genre specific, there are just so many great authors to choose from...
I do think Orson Scott Card is on the list. I'd like to think that Coupland will still be read, as so many of his books meant so much to me, but I don't know if they will survive culturally or not.
In more mainstream contemporary lit... Martin Amis... Don DeLillo, most certainly.
Non-fiction/natural history? Stephen Jay Gould... Richard Dawkins... and my personal fav, Jared Diamond.
DataPlay discs store 500 megabytes of data, will cost around $10 each, and can be used in MP3 players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras and other consumer electronics. Comparable storage media available today cost hundreds of dollars.
Ah, yes... like the comparable CDRs that I use with my TDK Mojo to play MP3s... they cost neary $0.54 each, and only store 150MB more than a DataPlay disc...
Oh, another point, you don't have to _sign_ anything to agree to a contract. In the states, you don't have to sign any forms for phone service, and you certainly don't have to sign anything to agree to a software license... even prior to UCITA.
Um... have you purchase a Tivo??? Read the agreements that *you* agree to when you purchase it... you agree to sign up for the service. The service is one of the features clearly listed all over the damn place. Just because it's a "feature" you have to pay for does not make it any less a feature.
When he bought the product he made a choice to trade a certain amount of money for certain features. Tivo, after the fact, disabled some of those features. He didn't get to unilaterally retract some of the money he paid them after they delivered his Tivo, did he? Why should they be able to unilaterally retract features?
Actually, you have the details right, but the consequences wrong.
When he purchased the Tivo, he did agree to exchange money for features, but he also agreed to subscribe to the Tivo service. Tivos are not sold irrespective of the service. When you purchase a Tivo, you are agreeing to use Tivo's service as well. Yes, they give you a grace period to sign up, and you can pay monthly, yearly, or buy the "lifetime" service (which I'll admit, is hokey). But regardless, part of the contract you are entering into is that you will purchase the service.
So, when you decide that the service isn't worth the money, and stop paying for it, Tivo is fully justified in taking away any feature they want: YOU have broken the contract, not them.
Now, you might not think that's a good way to do business, but consider that Tivo doesn't make a single dime from the unit sales, their model is entirely software/service driven. Therefore, I think it's completely fine for them to disable their software for people who violate the service contract they agreed to when purchasing the unit. You don't like it? Fine, buy the Philips or Sony unit and write all the PVR functionality yourself. Otherwise, don't buy the unit if you don't agree to the terms.
This guy gets no sympathy from me. You want it all free? Build your own Linux box! It can be done... But don't agree to purchase software, renig on your payment, and then cry foul when the developer shuts you off.
Or maybe they are going to run their own fiber bundle back to dry land? Govornment agencies don't have quite that kind of budget.
We aren't talking about the Department of Housing and Urban Development here... we're talking the NSA. I'd be willing to bet they have the budget to do whatever they need. And we'll *never* know what their true budget is... much of it comes in the form of "black ops". I mean, really, how naive are you?
After all, this is the agency that simply abandons high-tech sites...
but where exactly does our right to "fair use" come from?
A good question! As a matter of fact, it comes from the Supreme Court... they established (in Sony Corp. vs. Universal City Studios among others) that it is perfectly legal and within my rights to use a VCR to tape a show when it is on TV in order for me to watch it later.
If I can't "copy" the transmitted digital TV signal to my VCR (or Tivo/Replay/Ultimate) then I can't exactly time-shift it, now can I?
Hey, considering I entered many of my own CDs into the CDDB (including a number of local bands), as I'm sure many people have... we should file a class action lawsuit against Gracenote for using an "unauthorized derivative" of our data!:)
In this case, I imagine the lawyer is doing it pro bono (for free). It is typical in American pro bono cases, for the lawyer's percentage to be as high as 40%. Thus. 40% of 5 billion dollars - a hefty 2 billion.
Not quite.... pro bono is free... no fee is ever collected. Many good lawyers do pro bono work for charities, etc. What you are talking about is a contingency, where the lawyer is not being paid up-front, but if they win the case, he will take 30-40% of the winnings. And in a case like this, I'm sure his fee is closer to 40%...
-Dave
An Open Letter to Dvorak Concerning PVRs.
on
Calling Out TiVo
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· Score: 2
Mr. Dvorak,
I must admit, I would hardly call myself a fan of your work. However, in your recent "Commercial-Free Conundrum" article concerning the new wave of PVRs (such as the Tivo and Replay) you really missed the boat.
First, I will qualify my response by stating for the record that I am a Tivo user. Now, allow me to explain how you missed the boat.
You write, "Is it any different to steal programming by skipping the commercials (which paid for the programs) than it is to download a song?"
I would counter that using the Tivo is not stealing programming. First, the Tivo does not allow you to skip commercials. It allows you to fast-forward through them, but you still see the commercial's inane marketing message in full visual splendor. This is absolutely no different than if I were to record my favorite episode of "Whatever" on my VCR and then used it to fast-forward through the commercials. Do you also consider using a VCR to time-shift programming stealing? If you do, the Supreme Court of the United States doesn't agree with you. (See Sony Corp. vs. Universal City Studios if you really care.)
Next, you assert that "On top of that, both UltimateTV and TiVo charge customers $10 a month to use the device. None of that money goes to the networks or programmers whose material is being re-recorded and saved to the hard disk." A quick review of Tivo equity investors would refute this claim. Tivo equity holders include: AOL/Time Warner, CBS, NBC, Comcast, Showtime Networks, Discovery Communications and Walt Disney Company to name a few. Yes, maybe they are not getting a 'direct deposit' from the $10 monthly fee, but when Tivo earns, they reap the rewards as well. And ask yourself would so many broadcasters be investing in a company which was stealing from them??
Now, you claim that "These devices cost around $500, which is not a mass-market price." Interesting. I paid $199 for my Philips brand Tivo at Sears. That isn't mass market enough for you? What part isn't mass-market? The fact that it's a Philips Brand? Or is Sears just a niche store?
You also claim "people are beginning to reevaluate spending high annual fees for unimportant services. Do you want to spend $120 a year to operate a TiVo unit just to skip a few commercials?"
First, I only pay $99 a year for my Tivo subscription. Did you do any research at all??? Second, I don't pay for the service in order to skip advertisements. I pay for the service because my Tivo automatically grabs "Good Eats" on the Food Network, even if I'm not home, and then I can watch it whenever I want to, at a time convenient for me, not for the network. And get this, unlike my VCR, the Tivo (because of that "worthless" service) knows if the episode is a rerun or not, so I don't waste my time or space recording shows I've already seen. Oh, and my Tivo grabs every episode of the Simpsons, because I'm a big fan. And best of all, I told my Tivo a few weeks ago that I wanted it to watch for shows directed by John Sayles. Know what? Without me telling it too (explicitly) this week it recorded "Baby, It's You" a John Sayles movie that I didn't even know was on. I come home at night, I want to relax, and I can choose from a menu of The Simpsons, Charlie Rose, Frontline, Johnny Bravo, or a host of other shows my Tivo knows I like. Is all of that worth $10 a month? You bet it is!!
You also ask "With a VCR and DVD player already, where does this thing go?"
It goes in the rack with my other components.
"And how does it interact with the conventional devices?"
Quite well, actually. I have my DVD player hooked up along with my stereo and they all work together just fine. And the remote was quite simple to figure out. Granted, I don't have a problem programming my VCR either, but I would hardly call the Tivo complicated to use: my mother figured it out over the Easter visit with no problems at all, and she's a good bit older than you.
"I personally had trouble getting a ReplayTV unit to work because a computer server was down someplace."
I can't speak to this one, because I've never used a Replay... but did you try and Ultimate TV? Did you try the Tivo? Based on the statements in your column, I don't think you did. You obviously didn't even bother to check the street prices on the units, or you wouldn't have quoted a $500 price tag... even the Sony Tivo unit can be had at Circuit City for $399, and it's one of the more expensive.
You know, I would have expected that for an article in Forbes, you would have tested all of the products you are writing about. I would think you owed your readers that. But you failed to even do any basic research on the pricing of the units and the service, let alone digging deeper and finding out how people actually use them. You jumped to the conclusion that everyone uses PVRs to "steal" programming by skipping commercials. Personally, I would be embarrassed to have my name on a column so lacking in facts, and so incorrect in the statements you do make. But then again, I don't get paid good money to talk out of my ass.
If skipping the commercials is equivalent to stealing the broadcast, from whom was it stolen? Was it stolen from the advertiser who paid for the commercial time? Was it stolen from the broadcaster who based the advertising rates on the number of viewers watching the show?
It was stolen from me. As a citizen of the US and a human on Earth, the airwaves belonged to me, until Congress and the NAB stole them that is...
See, more/. missing the boat. If you *really* want to get your message to your congressman, contribute several hundred thousand dollars in soft money to his campaign and party. Duh!
Slashdot Mirror
That may be true, but I happen to use some of the features enough that I really do need them. The biggest deal for me is the ability to track revisions and add comments (notes) to documents. I do *a lot* of collaborative authoring, and while it might seem like these features could be handled in other ways, Word really does do them best. (I think I just had a heart attack uttering that phrase.)
While I agree that dependence on Word is bad, the real issue isn't Word attachements themselves, or getting people to stop sending them... RMS should remember that people *should be free to choose Word as well*. The really issue should be lobbying M$ to *stop changing the damn format* and *standardize on a format.* Perhaps something XML based...
-Dave!
That said, there is a speed cap, which is pretty annoying. I got really *stellar* downloads with @Home (sometimes as high as 4Mbps) and nearly as stellar uploads. The 1.5Mpbs download cap, while bothersome, is not nearly as troubling as the 128Kbps upload cap. I have a server co-located at an ISP (I used to work there) and I upload quite a bit. I am no running a server at home over the cable modem, but since I do use it to communicate both ways with my co-located server, the upload cap is a *real* pisser.
Not so fast... I'm in Chicago, which is a pretty big market, and I'm still not on-line. Why don't we see how long it takes them to get *everyone* back on-line before we start suckin' each other's dicks?
Um, well, first... that press release doesn't say that everyone is back on-line... in fact, it's a release from Saturday. Here, it's Tuesday. Can Hemos read??
Second, since I am an ATT Broadband customer in Chicago, sitting here dialed in using a 56k modem, I can assure you that ATT customers are *not* all back on-line. Contrary to the attitude in SF, the bay area does not constitute the entire world...
Use public transportation again because it solves the mid-range travel problem of getting to/from the bus terminal/train station
Yeah, and then lugging a 60lb. "IT" On the train with you... there isn't (from what I've seen) any way to "lock IT" to a bike rack. And if you take up the space of a person on the train with your IT next to me, I'll chuck IT out the f'n window.
Save about $4000 a year on parking fees in Boston, since I'll be able to put the car out in the burbs somewhere where parking is cheap
Good. You'll need that 4k to afford IT.
Get around town generating absolutely no pollution
Right... and the electric fairies will charge it for you, generating absolutely no pollution at all!
Please. I think IT is cool as hell. But for the *majority* of city commuters, it's a toy. I live in Chicago, I think that qualifies as a major city... this thing would be useless for most commuters who use any of the major expressways to get to/fro the city. They have commutes of 10-20 miles, and this thing isn't fast enough. Let alone, where do they ride it? On the Kennedy? Ha!
And while we're at it, let me ask you this: how well is "IT" going to handle lake effect snow? Hmmm? Hey, you're in Boston, right? Do you enjoy riding your bike outdoors in Boston winters? Or rain? A bike can actually go *faster* for 1/10th the price tag, my bike balances pretty well, maybe yours doesn't, and my bike doesn't pollute *or* require charging. Hmmm....
So I guess if you're a lazy s.o.b. who lives in year round sunny California and can blow several grand on a toy, this is technology that will change the world!! Oh wait, that's Steve Jobs, isn't it.
This device would make such injuries irrelevant.
I don't think it would... What happens if you are on an IT and the batteries die? (For whatever reason). If you're in traffic, you're f'd. At least on a bike you are under your own power.
Look, I'm an avid motorcylist, and I think "IT" is pretty cool. But at $3k, it's a rich guy's toy... and I'm sorry, the average schmuck on the street going 10mph on one of these things could be downright *dangerous*.
This thing is not for rich suburban white guys who hang out on internet all day. Its for postmen and chinamen.
Of course! How silly of me!! Of course the average citizen in a chinese city could afford an *electric* scooter with a $3k USD price tag!
Tell me, do you, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs smoke crack together or alone in your biodomes?
What really sucks is that I just moved to Chicago in May, and the area where I am was served by Prime Cable/ExpressNet... talk about shitty service! It was *horrible*... I once had one of their *customer services* representatives tell me on the phone "Well, it's going to be down as long as it's down. Maybe you should just get another provider." Of course, thanks to protected cable monopolies I *couldn't* (RCN doesn't offer modems here for some reason).
Well, along came ATT, bought out Prime, and then my cable modem rocked, although my cable channel line-up still bites donkey dongs (no Food Network???). Now, I come home yesterday to nada... zip... and this 7-10 days B.S. when ATT **KNEW** this was coming is a joke. I'm really beginning to hate my decision to move to this city...
Yes I do. I pay my cable system for all of the stations. And if you have a satellite, you pay an extra fee for the local station package.
I *do* pay for television, and they are really using the programming as a vehicle for advertising anyway. So to ask that the actual small bit of programming we do get be logo free doesn't seem too much to ask.
-Dave!
I do think Orson Scott Card is on the list. I'd like to think that Coupland will still be read, as so many of his books meant so much to me, but I don't know if they will survive culturally or not.
In more mainstream contemporary lit... Martin Amis... Don DeLillo, most certainly.
Non-fiction/natural history? Stephen Jay Gould... Richard Dawkins... and my personal fav, Jared Diamond.
Ah, yes... like the comparable CDRs that I use with my TDK Mojo to play MP3s... they cost neary $0.54 each, and only store 150MB more than a DataPlay disc...
This article was full of idiotic statements.
What's wrong with this article?
First, any manager that hires someone without meeting them, even for only a few minutes is a damn fool. Period.
Second, nothing described about this guy makes me think "quirky". Slovenly. Dirty. Lazy. Sure... but not quirky.
The article tag should have read "Is there any room for managers who make half-assed hiring decisions out there?"
Sorry, you are wrong.
Actually, you have the details right, but the consequences wrong.
When he purchased the Tivo, he did agree to exchange money for features, but he also agreed to subscribe to the Tivo service. Tivos are not sold irrespective of the service. When you purchase a Tivo, you are agreeing to use Tivo's service as well. Yes, they give you a grace period to sign up, and you can pay monthly, yearly, or buy the "lifetime" service (which I'll admit, is hokey). But regardless, part of the contract you are entering into is that you will purchase the service .
So, when you decide that the service isn't worth the money, and stop paying for it, Tivo is fully justified in taking away any feature they want: YOU have broken the contract, not them.
Now, you might not think that's a good way to do business, but consider that Tivo doesn't make a single dime from the unit sales, their model is entirely software/service driven. Therefore, I think it's completely fine for them to disable their software for people who violate the service contract they agreed to when purchasing the unit. You don't like it? Fine, buy the Philips or Sony unit and write all the PVR functionality yourself. Otherwise, don't buy the unit if you don't agree to the terms.
This guy gets no sympathy from me. You want it all free? Build your own Linux box! It can be done... But don't agree to purchase software, renig on your payment, and then cry foul when the developer shuts you off.
We aren't talking about the Department of Housing and Urban Development here... we're talking the NSA. I'd be willing to bet they have the budget to do whatever they need. And we'll *never* know what their true budget is... much of it comes in the form of "black ops". I mean, really, how naive are you?
After all, this is the agency that simply abandons high-tech sites...
A good question! As a matter of fact, it comes from the Supreme Court... they established (in Sony Corp. vs. Universal City Studios among others) that it is perfectly legal and within my rights to use a VCR to tape a show when it is on TV in order for me to watch it later.
If I can't "copy" the transmitted digital TV signal to my VCR (or Tivo/Replay/Ultimate) then I can't exactly time-shift it, now can I?
Um... they haven't? Either you don't live in America, or you don't vote.
The limitations of our two party system and electoral college are some of the worst legacies of American politics.
Not quite.... pro bono is free... no fee is ever collected. Many good lawyers do pro bono work for charities, etc. What you are talking about is a contingency, where the lawyer is not being paid up-front, but if they win the case, he will take 30-40% of the winnings. And in a case like this, I'm sure his fee is closer to 40%...
-Dave
I must admit, I would hardly call myself a fan of your work. However, in your recent "Commercial-Free Conundrum" article concerning the new wave of PVRs (such as the Tivo and Replay) you really missed the boat.
First, I will qualify my response by stating for the record that I am a Tivo user. Now, allow me to explain how you missed the boat.
You write, "Is it any different to steal programming by skipping the commercials (which paid for the programs) than it is to download a song?"
I would counter that using the Tivo is not stealing programming. First, the Tivo does not allow you to skip commercials. It allows you to fast-forward through them, but you still see the commercial's inane marketing message in full visual splendor. This is absolutely no different than if I were to record my favorite episode of "Whatever" on my VCR and then used it to fast-forward through the commercials. Do you also consider using a VCR to time-shift programming stealing? If you do, the Supreme Court of the United States doesn't agree with you. (See Sony Corp. vs. Universal City Studios if you really care.)
Next, you assert that "On top of that, both UltimateTV and TiVo charge customers $10 a month to use the device. None of that money goes to the networks or programmers whose material is being re-recorded and saved to the hard disk." A quick review of Tivo equity investors would refute this claim. Tivo equity holders include: AOL/Time Warner, CBS, NBC, Comcast, Showtime Networks, Discovery Communications and Walt Disney Company to name a few. Yes, maybe they are not getting a 'direct deposit' from the $10 monthly fee, but when Tivo earns, they reap the rewards as well. And ask yourself would so many broadcasters be investing in a company which was stealing from them??
Now, you claim that "These devices cost around $500, which is not a mass-market price." Interesting. I paid $199 for my Philips brand Tivo at Sears. That isn't mass market enough for you? What part isn't mass-market? The fact that it's a Philips Brand? Or is Sears just a niche store?
You also claim "people are beginning to reevaluate spending high annual fees for unimportant services. Do you want to spend $120 a year to operate a TiVo unit just to skip a few commercials?"
First, I only pay $99 a year for my Tivo subscription. Did you do any research at all??? Second, I don't pay for the service in order to skip advertisements. I pay for the service because my Tivo automatically grabs "Good Eats" on the Food Network, even if I'm not home, and then I can watch it whenever I want to, at a time convenient for me, not for the network. And get this, unlike my VCR, the Tivo (because of that "worthless" service) knows if the episode is a rerun or not, so I don't waste my time or space recording shows I've already seen. Oh, and my Tivo grabs every episode of the Simpsons, because I'm a big fan. And best of all, I told my Tivo a few weeks ago that I wanted it to watch for shows directed by John Sayles. Know what? Without me telling it too (explicitly) this week it recorded "Baby, It's You" a John Sayles movie that I didn't even know was on. I come home at night, I want to relax, and I can choose from a menu of The Simpsons, Charlie Rose, Frontline, Johnny Bravo, or a host of other shows my Tivo knows I like. Is all of that worth $10 a month? You bet it is!!
You also ask "With a VCR and DVD player already, where does this thing go?"
It goes in the rack with my other components.
"And how does it interact with the conventional devices?"
Quite well, actually. I have my DVD player hooked up along with my stereo and they all work together just fine. And the remote was quite simple to figure out. Granted, I don't have a problem programming my VCR either, but I would hardly call the Tivo complicated to use: my mother figured it out over the Easter visit with no problems at all, and she's a good bit older than you.
"I personally had trouble getting a ReplayTV unit to work because a computer server was down someplace."
I can't speak to this one, because I've never used a Replay... but did you try and Ultimate TV? Did you try the Tivo? Based on the statements in your column, I don't think you did. You obviously didn't even bother to check the street prices on the units, or you wouldn't have quoted a $500 price tag... even the Sony Tivo unit can be had at Circuit City for $399, and it's one of the more expensive.
You know, I would have expected that for an article in Forbes, you would have tested all of the products you are writing about. I would think you owed your readers that. But you failed to even do any basic research on the pricing of the units and the service, let alone digging deeper and finding out how people actually use them. You jumped to the conclusion that everyone uses PVRs to "steal" programming by skipping commercials. Personally, I would be embarrassed to have my name on a column so lacking in facts, and so incorrect in the statements you do make. But then again, I don't get paid good money to talk out of my ass.
Sincerely,
David Gulbransen
It was stolen from me. As a citizen of the US and a human on Earth, the airwaves belonged to me, until Congress and the NAB stole them that is...