I'd like to be able to just pay for the shows that I want to watch too. That way shows I like get my money and the other crap gets nada (from me at least). And as a plus, throw in no freakin' commercials!!! This model only works though if enough people like the same stuff that that I do to make it worthwhile for the producers of the content.
I'm not an iPod user but I decided to replace an old Win98 machine that I used for mainly for photos with a Mac Mini. Even tho there are a few gotchas, I'm pretty happy so far. I've been learning to use the Gimp to replace Photoshop and so far I've been able to do everything I could before. 'course I'm no graphix artist... Besides that I use it for the web and email (Firefox and Thunderbird) and some office apps (NeoOffice/J). Eclipse works fine too. The only thing I really miss is Freecell. Have to move over to my Linux box for that, oh well, can't have everything.
I originally wanted to do the same thing but the whole needing a PC everywhere got real old, especially outside at the bar-b-que or in the shower. I already have plenty of FM radios around, mostly doing nothing since commercial radio suxs so bad. So what I did was install a cheap FM transmitter kit on my tunes server and use winamp to play them. I even used the little winamp server application to let me change tunes from a PC or my Zaurus 5500 when outside until I upgraded to 3.0. All I need to do then is tune into my local broadcast which reaches anywhere in my house and little yard. If someone wants to listen to something else in a different room, they can open a local copy of winamp (or whatever) and play the files locally. Maybe not the best fidelity in the world but after many years of acid rock and head bangin', my ears don't notice...
Most products specs I've seen lately are what I call CYA specs. They ask for things that are comprehensive enough to keep the blame away from the analyst even if the requirement is for things that are difficult to implement and probably never used by the end user. A prime example of this is requirements for searching and reporting. The spec will call for the ability to search or report on any field or groups of fields, as determined by the user, with multiple search criteria for any field with the data sorted on any field. And it has to be simple enough for a non-technical user to use (no fair making them enter SQL). Chances are it will only make sense for the user to view data in a few ways so why not define these ways and put that in the spec? Nope, cause they might miss something and they'd be shamed for life. Better to just put "I want everything I can think of and might think of in the future" in the spec and complain that the project is behind schedule and is too big and runs too damn slow when (if) it is finally delivered.
In case you can't tell, I'm in the process of reviewing just such a spec from our legal department right now. Specs written by lawyers are pretty but wordy without really saying what exactly they want...
I should have known better but after all it was the early 70's and I was still into the free love thing and all and the Beatles made those guru dudes look so cool. Besides the Indian chicks were really nice looking. Who new knew my nerd seed would start such a problem. Sorry about all those job stealin' bastards. Really!
I wonder how much 'stolen' IP they would find if they dug into Windoze code. Maybe they can get some bucks from DOS's use of 'cd' and other unix like command line stuff. Or command line stuff in general. It never ends...
we will be able to do this due to the fact that there will be no middle-man provider. there are also some amazing projects in the works regarding satellite and wireless data transmission. think: global wireless network, anywhere in the world, anyone in the world, no charge.
Wasn't this what the bad guy in the movie 'Anti-Trust' was trying to do? Makes you wonder...
Let me guess. You all have the same finish date. Most managers these days have no concept of dependencies. They give everyone the same end date regardless of the fact that some parts can't be done until other parts are ready. I can't tell you how many times I've received stuff from the DBAs the Thursday before a Friday deadline. But they got their part out on time. If the managers were smart enough to plan a schedule right this wouldn't happen. The holdups should be evident early and can be handled without causing major delays. There should be incremental testing of the project as it is built from the bottom up. That way faulty or missing parts are identified early on, not at integration time. Having a bunch of people out there working on different parts and then trying to integrate at the last minute is a recipie for disaster no matter how much time you spent on the initial design. (design time, wow what a concept).
Why can't music be treated like movies? You can pay the big bucks to see a movie in the theater when it first comes out or rent it or watch it on pay-per-view a little later. And if you like it a lot, you can buy it on DVD and watch it over and over again. If you're really cheap, you can wait until it comes out on regular TV.
I don't see why a similar model would't work for music as well. Release the CD first, maybe make some samples available on the net. Later, when sales are slowing, release it on the pay services. Finally, let the Napster clones have it for free.
I say leave the Microsoft company alone, they will destroy themselves soon enough. I say we throw Bill G, Steve B. and all the other exec's who actually broke the law in the slammer. Let Bill be Bubba's bitch for 20 to life!!!
This will go over big with the sheep out there. You know the ones that buy Britney Spears and the boy bands and all the other suck-ass pseudo musicians out there who are popular because the media machine says they are. Most of who get all their spending money from mommy and daddy. What do they care if it cost micro-cents to listen to the same damn song over and over again. Even if it is the same one they play on the radio over and over again. Screw 'em! I'm happy listening to my Hawkwind and Blue Cheer and MC5 LP's.
Sure, let's go back to the pre '93 Internet, when it was only used by the government, big universities and bigger corporations. All at taxpayers expense I might add!!!
And they all stink in one way or another. Language biggots should get over themselves. If you can do it in assembler or Java, great, if you can't then debate what language would be best to write your killer app (if only you could). I've yet to see the ONE language and doubt if I ever will. They all have good and bad points. Just pick one and write some code that's worth a damn!!!
It's pretty hard for me to get worked up about this. If you don't like the prices of CDs, don't buy them! Nobody is forcing you to. You can live perfectly well with out them. Most of the highest priced CDs are the new releases and other 'POP' titles which suck anyway and are played on the radio and MTV over and over again. Go to mp3.com and find some obscure artist and buy from them. It'll cost you less and most of the money goes to the artist. I don't feel too sorry for the artist that are ripped off by the record companies either. Some have already taken charge of their own production/promotion/distribution and are doing fine. The rest need to lay off the blunts for a little while and get their act together.
Maybe they'll sue because the users didn't want to see a graphic or listen to a sound file that took too long (in their opinion) to download. C'mon, get real, all this is about is making some lawyer rich(er) and famous. The only reason any of you are jumping on this bandwagon is because AOL is the "bad guy". Remember, this will set precedence, opening the door to more and more of this kind of bullshit! Not just against AOL, Microsoft and the other perceived evil doers out there but against US!
I had to buy this book after I read the online chapters. I wasn't disapointed. As an avid reader of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown and other techno-thrillers, I totally recommend this book to any one with like taste. This guy must have talked to Bill Joy!
Yes but you are probably a good artist. I think this law protects the artist (and their marketing machines) that are afraid that a preview of their work will let everyone see how bad they suck before they commit their money (Sorry, no refunds).
It's not the individual trading 10 shares of E-Bay that cause the wild fluctuations in the market. It's the big fund managers and other institutional investors driving the market way up one day and down the next, making money either way. It's the little guy who pays for it. It's just one more way for the rich to screw the masses out of their money.
I think they should leave the company alone. If laws were broken, go after the people who gave the orders to break them. Fine them out the wazzoo and let them be Bubba's Bitch for awhile. That will teach them to be greedy assholes. As for the company, at the rate it's going, it will destroy itself someday.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd like to be able to just pay for the shows that I want to watch too. That way shows I like get my money and the other crap gets nada (from me at least). And as a plus, throw in no freakin' commercials!!! This model only works though if enough people like the same stuff that that I do to make it worthwhile for the producers of the content.
I'm not an iPod user but I decided to replace an old Win98 machine that I used for mainly for photos with a Mac Mini. Even tho there are a few gotchas, I'm pretty happy so far. I've been learning to use the Gimp to replace Photoshop and so far I've been able to do everything I could before. 'course I'm no graphix artist... Besides that I use it for the web and email (Firefox and Thunderbird) and some office apps (NeoOffice/J). Eclipse works fine too. The only thing I really miss is Freecell. Have to move over to my Linux box for that, oh well, can't have everything.
try this:
o rg /
http://sites.gizoogle.com/?url=http://slashdot.
someone is using Java for what it was originally created for...set-top boxes!
I originally wanted to do the same thing but the whole needing a PC everywhere got real old, especially outside at the bar-b-que or in the shower. I already have plenty of FM radios around, mostly doing nothing since commercial radio suxs so bad. So what I did was install a cheap FM transmitter kit on my tunes server and use winamp to play them. I even used the little winamp server application to let me change tunes from a PC or my Zaurus 5500 when outside until I upgraded to 3.0. All I need to do then is tune into my local broadcast which reaches anywhere in my house and little yard. If someone wants to listen to something else in a different room, they can open a local copy of winamp (or whatever) and play the files locally. Maybe not the best fidelity in the world but after many years of acid rock and head bangin', my ears don't notice...
Most products specs I've seen lately are what I call CYA specs. They ask for things that are comprehensive enough to keep the blame away from the analyst even if the requirement is for things that are difficult to implement and probably never used by the end user. A prime example of this is requirements for searching and reporting. The spec will call for the ability to search or report on any field or groups of fields, as determined by the user, with multiple search criteria for any field with the data sorted on any field. And it has to be simple enough for a non-technical user to use (no fair making them enter SQL). Chances are it will only make sense for the user to view data in a few ways so why not define these ways and put that in the spec? Nope, cause they might miss something and they'd be shamed for life. Better to just put "I want everything I can think of and might think of in the future" in the spec and complain that the project is behind schedule and is too big and runs too damn slow when (if) it is finally delivered.
In case you can't tell, I'm in the process of reviewing just such a spec from our legal department right now. Specs written by lawyers are pretty but wordy without really saying what exactly they want...
I should have known better but after all it was the early 70's and I was still into the free love thing and all and the Beatles made those guru dudes look so cool. Besides the Indian chicks were really nice looking. Who new knew my nerd seed would start such a problem. Sorry about all those job stealin' bastards. Really!
I'm sure I'm sorry...
I wonder how much 'stolen' IP they would find if they dug into Windoze code. Maybe they can get some bucks from DOS's use of 'cd' and other unix like command line stuff. Or command line stuff in general. It never ends...
we will be able to do this due to the fact that there will be no middle-man provider. there are also some amazing projects in the works regarding satellite and wireless data transmission. think: global wireless network, anywhere in the world, anyone in the world, no charge.
Wasn't this what the bad guy in the movie 'Anti-Trust' was trying to do? Makes you wonder...
Let me guess. You all have the same finish date. Most managers these days have no concept of dependencies. They give everyone the same end date regardless of the fact that some parts can't be done until other parts are ready. I can't tell you how many times I've received stuff from the DBAs the Thursday before a Friday deadline. But they got their part out on time. If the managers were smart enough to plan a schedule right this wouldn't happen. The holdups should be evident early and can be handled without causing major delays. There should be incremental testing of the project as it is built from the bottom up. That way faulty or missing parts are identified early on, not at integration time. Having a bunch of people out there working on different parts and then trying to integrate at the last minute is a recipie for disaster no matter how much time you spent on the initial design. (design time, wow what a concept).
Why can't music be treated like movies? You can pay the big bucks to see a movie in the theater when it first comes out or rent it or watch it on pay-per-view a little later. And if you like it a lot, you can buy it on DVD and watch it over and over again. If you're really cheap, you can wait until it comes out on regular TV.
I don't see why a similar model would't work for music as well. Release the CD first, maybe make some samples available on the net. Later, when sales are slowing, release it on the pay services. Finally, let the Napster clones have it for free.
Not to mention the merchandising...
I say leave the Microsoft company alone, they will destroy themselves soon enough. I say we throw Bill G, Steve B. and all the other exec's who actually broke the law in the slammer. Let Bill be Bubba's bitch for 20 to life!!!
This will go over big with the sheep out there. You know the ones that buy Britney Spears and the boy bands and all the other suck-ass pseudo musicians out there who are popular because the media machine says they are. Most of who get all their spending money from mommy and daddy. What do they care if it cost micro-cents to listen to the same damn song over and over again. Even if it is the same one they play on the radio over and over again. Screw 'em! I'm happy listening to my Hawkwind and Blue Cheer and MC5 LP's.
Sure, let's go back to the pre '93 Internet, when it was only used by the government, big universities and bigger corporations. All at taxpayers expense I might add!!!
And they all stink in one way or another. Language biggots should get over themselves. If you can do it in assembler or Java, great, if you can't then debate what language would be best to write your killer app (if only you could). I've yet to see the ONE language and doubt if I ever will. They all have good and bad points. Just pick one and write some code that's worth a damn!!!
> Well count me in, now we're up to $300...
What the hell makes the Green Hornet's sidekick an authority on computer programs anyway???
It's pretty hard for me to get worked up about this. If you don't like the prices of CDs, don't buy them! Nobody is forcing you to. You can live perfectly well with out them. Most of the highest priced CDs are the new releases and other 'POP' titles which suck anyway and are played on the radio and MTV over and over again. Go to mp3.com and find some obscure artist and buy from them. It'll cost you less and most of the money goes to the artist. I don't feel too sorry for the artist that are ripped off by the record companies either. Some have already taken charge of their own production/promotion/distribution and are doing fine. The rest need to lay off the blunts for a little while and get their act together.
Maybe they'll sue because the users didn't want to see a graphic or listen to a sound file that took too long (in their opinion) to download. C'mon, get real, all this is about is making some lawyer rich(er) and famous. The only reason any of you are jumping on this bandwagon is because AOL is the "bad guy". Remember, this will set precedence, opening the door to more and more of this kind of bullshit! Not just against AOL, Microsoft and the other perceived evil doers out there but against US!
Just leave them alone. Haven't they suffered enough already??? I mean poor ole BG is down to his last $50 billion...
I had to buy this book after I read the online chapters. I wasn't disapointed. As an avid reader of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown and other techno-thrillers, I totally recommend this book to any one with like taste. This guy must have talked to Bill Joy!
Yes but you are probably a good artist. I think this law protects the artist (and their marketing machines) that are afraid that a preview of their work will let everyone see how bad they suck before they commit their money (Sorry, no refunds).
It's not the individual trading 10 shares of E-Bay that cause the wild fluctuations in the market. It's the big fund managers and other institutional investors driving the market way up one day and down the next, making money either way. It's the little guy who pays for it. It's just one more way for the rich to screw the masses out of their money.
I think they should leave the company alone. If laws were broken, go after the people who gave the orders to break them. Fine them out the wazzoo and let them be Bubba's Bitch for awhile. That will teach them to be greedy assholes. As for the company, at the rate it's going, it will destroy itself someday.