"We consider that the likely impact of the coming into force of section 1201(a)(1)(A) will be that more works will be more widely available to more authorized (lawful) users than before. Those who shoulder the burden of arguing that section 1201(a)(1)(A) should not go into effect for all works on October 28 cannot prevail unless they can demonstrate convincingly that the contrary is true"
Hmmm. 2600.com attempted to aid in making DVD playing software more widely available and you folks sued them for it. The purpose of DeCSS was arguably to further the development of a Open Source DVD player, something that would have put the DVD format into the hands of many more users. We could demonstrate it much more convincinglu if you'd stop suing us.
Ah, I suppose that banning guns is the answer to people getting shot as well?
This is about video games, not gambling. Just because people gamble on them is no reason to ban them, why do people like you accept the logic that inanimate objects somehow cause people to engage in bad behavior? Why not ban gambling? Why not spend the same amount of energy on catching gamblers as it would take to raid game centers?
Next time maybe I'll wait for the slow readers in the class before I post. Probably not.
The media there has highlighted police raids on unlicensed game centers
The amazing thing is that this is about video games, not crack houses or militias like the police in the US. I can't imagine that this is one of their biggest problems. Maybe there is there some kind weirdo fringe group behind it.
I have a friend who works for Citrix, he claims they are close to releasing a handheld that runs their ICA client over wireless IP. A version that can do the same over one of the cellular formats is supposedly in the works. The guy is a notorious liar but who knows.
I realize that this does little for the Nix crowd but it would be interesting to see the thing. Particulalry since many of the clients I have to work with use NT for everything. If you've never used Citrix, you can get a desktop on an NT terminal server from anywhere on the network. I've used it quite a bit at work and it seems to suck less than I expected it to.
The book market in general won't let this practice get oo widespread. If given the choice (if) I would suspect that the vast majority of people will choose the complete printed book over the half print / half CD version.
On the other hand I can see why this type of thing would be tested in the Computer section first. I could also imagine it happening with college textbooks. Who knows, you are essentially forced to buy those if the professor chooses them, maybe half books could catch on there.
Why can't publishers give us what we want? For tech books a complete printed copy AND and searchable CD would be sweet.
I had a DSL connection through Earthlink for quite a while but I recently switched to @home. If I recall (it was a while ago) Earthlink promised I'd be up in 4 weeks but it took closer to 6. Once installed the bandwidth was never as close to the 'up to' speeds I'd been quoted. Earthlink's tech support is is bad as everyone else's, they almost always tried to blame in on 'peak usage' slowing things down and not admit that their service was lame.
About three weeks ago I got connected to @home. My biggest gripe so far is that they claimed I'd be up about 1 week from when I called but the guy they sent out to do the install was a moron. I essentially hooked myself up but I had to wait for them to config my account on their end and they took three days to do it. I'd give them points for working on Sunday though (the day I they finally called with my DNS info)
I'm in a sparsely populated area so I'm guessing there aren't many people on my loop but I get amazing bandwidth (for home use anyway). Even during what should be peak hours I hit about 2,000kbps. Thus far I'm happier than I was with DSL but I'll find something wrong in the next few weeks.
Yes Andre, they did, they accussed me of knowingly conspiring with Linus...
That bastard Linus, he has entered a conspiracy to destroy Microsoft!
I think, in general, that OSS gives Microsoft fits because it is something that they can't make go away by buying it. If your are used to innovating with your pocketbook that would really screw things up, maybe this is the beginning of plan B: Innovate with lawsuits.
I have some but they are copyrighted. I'll give them to you for free, even if you don't want them, but I'll have to follow them up with a cease and desist letter.
I think the Cell Phone Module Near part is the best. Finally things are starting to merge. Now if they just put a GPS module in there I'll be set.
Actually, until the other handheld technology gets better I'm not convinced of the usefulness of color. They don't yet have enough memory to hold many images, definitely not video. Better sound would be nice as well. Wish list, wish list.....
The size of the file wouldn't work. Two complete songs could have different file sizes depending on the bitrate used to compress the.wav. Different ripping software can also produce.wavs of different lengths depending on where (on the CD) it chooses to begin grabbing the file and where it chooses to stop. I've had Audiograbber spit out several different file sizes for the same track.
I thought Gnutella's architecture was just found to be in danger of falling apart? All of the search requests having to traverse 56K conections, etc. Has this been corrected in the search engine.
I think that companies take the chance, when they market a loss leader, that people will choose to buy only that product and not patronize their money makers. This adds a necessary element of risk to these types of ventures. I'm presently consulting for a manufacturing company that is trying to sell a product at a loss just to get into a new market. The idea is that they will expand their customer base for all of their products, not just the loss leader.
I think these companies need a better business model. I also think that they tend to blow these cracks out of proportion, at the very least they help to further spread the word that such cracks are available. I just don't see a tremendous profit loss from people tearing apart their I-Openers or cat shaped scanners. Companies need to consider possibilities like that long before they make their products available.
I'm not sure about legislation that protects companies when they try to market a hardware/service combo. What would that actually accomplish? If a guy a Radio Shack gave me a scanner would I be forced to scan something with it? Would I be forced to install their software? What if I went out and bought a TiVo but decided I didn't like it, would I have to use the thing or could I just throw it in the trash?
Is there any requirement that a company prove that a person has actually seen their EULA? If you never install their software or read their docs I'm not sure how they could make the case that a person was even aware of the EULA. The CueCats I have all came in bags, maybe they are printing it on the bags with the phrase 'by opening this bag you agree to....'. The majority of the people who use the cracks do so because Cue's software either doesn't work on their OS or because they don't want Cue to snoop on them. In either case the EULA would never be seen by the user, I can't imagine that it would be enforceable.
Can you imagine the uproar if Microsoft used their advertising dollars to try and influence editorial content?
Uhhhh, they do that. So do pretty much all large corporations in the US. Its like picking up a copy of Motor Trend, you almost never read a bad road test report because the guys who make the cars are the same guys who buy the ads. It isn't really a Bad Thing, it is just a company choosing to give its advertising dollars to the friendly media. The biggest suprise about this article is that it was seen as news.
I think this is also they way Microsoft plans to protect the Windows ME CDs.
Stamping 'DO NOT MAKE ILLEGAL COPIES OF THIS DISC' didn't work as well as they had planned so the next step is a DNA scanner built into every CD drive and a Little Bit of Bill wiped on every disc.
This is the same kind of argument that I used to hear from people who played MUDs, only in reverse. Players used to say 'hack and slash' MUDs were inferior to the 'thinking' MUDs. I'm not sure if I agree that the adventure game genre is dead or even vanishing but I think the decline is not necessarily related to a change in the taste of individual gamers, more likely a change in the population (or demographic if you want to use marketing terms) of them. More and more people jump into gaming every day so the population is bound to get dilluted with something other than hard core players. The hard core guys who want to spend hours figuring out a small puzzle are still around, there are just a lot more people who want to grab a cannon of blow up a bunch of stuff.
You keep mentioning Game Theory but I'm not sure how well you know it. Game Theory is the economist's attempt at depicting the human side of what we have always called 'market forces'. 'The market' is not defined by the decisions of a handful of people, it is an aggregate of everyone in the economy. Just because individuals make what you label as stupid decision (based on your outside view) doesn't invalidate free market theory. You must certainly be aware of the role that perfect information plays in these theories? Market theories are based on a number of parameters that seldom align in the real world. That doesn't mean that the theories are incorrect (or the models based on thsoe theories). If insufficient information is included, or if too few varibles are considered, the model will not predict behavior.
Slashdot Mirror
"We consider that the likely impact of the coming into force of section 1201(a)(1)(A) will be that more works will be more widely available to more authorized (lawful) users than before. Those who shoulder the burden of arguing that section 1201(a)(1)(A) should not go into effect for all works on October 28 cannot prevail unless they can demonstrate convincingly that the contrary is true"
Hmmm. 2600.com attempted to aid in making DVD playing software more widely available and you folks sued them for it. The purpose of DeCSS was arguably to further the development of a Open Source DVD player, something that would have put the DVD format into the hands of many more users. We could demonstrate it much more convincinglu if you'd stop suing us.
CPU cycles will likely be worth double their normal Mojo dollars. The web server could use some at the moment. Or maybe some bandwidth donations.
This is about video games, not gambling. Just because people gamble on them is no reason to ban them, why do people like you accept the logic that inanimate objects somehow cause people to engage in bad behavior? Why not ban gambling? Why not spend the same amount of energy on catching gamblers as it would take to raid game centers?
Next time maybe I'll wait for the slow readers in the class before I post. Probably not.
The amazing thing is that this is about video games, not crack houses or militias like the police in the US. I can't imagine that this is one of their biggest problems. Maybe there is there some kind weirdo fringe group behind it.
Its too bad when the stories have to put up that disclaimer.
Have they checked into partnering with Microsoft on this project?
Is this just another marketing-esque way to describe something that has been around since the dawn of GUIs? (Like a menu bar)
I realize that this does little for the Nix crowd but it would be interesting to see the thing. Particulalry since many of the clients I have to work with use NT for everything. If you've never used Citrix, you can get a desktop on an NT terminal server from anywhere on the network. I've used it quite a bit at work and it seems to suck less than I expected it to.
On the other hand I can see why this type of thing would be tested in the Computer section first. I could also imagine it happening with college textbooks. Who knows, you are essentially forced to buy those if the professor chooses them, maybe half books could catch on there.
Why can't publishers give us what we want? For tech books a complete printed copy AND and searchable CD would be sweet.
About three weeks ago I got connected to @home. My biggest gripe so far is that they claimed I'd be up about 1 week from when I called but the guy they sent out to do the install was a moron. I essentially hooked myself up but I had to wait for them to config my account on their end and they took three days to do it. I'd give them points for working on Sunday though (the day I they finally called with my DNS info)
I'm in a sparsely populated area so I'm guessing there aren't many people on my loop but I get amazing bandwidth (for home use anyway). Even during what should be peak hours I hit about 2,000kbps. Thus far I'm happier than I was with DSL but I'll find something wrong in the next few weeks.
Yes Andre, they did, they accussed me of knowingly conspiring with Linus...
That bastard Linus, he has entered a conspiracy to destroy Microsoft!
I think, in general, that OSS gives Microsoft fits because it is something that they can't make go away by buying it. If your are used to innovating with your pocketbook that would really screw things up, maybe this is the beginning of plan B: Innovate with lawsuits.
Actually, until the other handheld technology gets better I'm not convinced of the usefulness of color. They don't yet have enough memory to hold many images, definitely not video. Better sound would be nice as well. Wish list, wish list.....
Make boards for several types and let us pick which ones work best. Maybe that would stick the proverbial fork in RDRAM.
Probably not.
I think these companies need a better business model. I also think that they tend to blow these cracks out of proportion, at the very least they help to further spread the word that such cracks are available. I just don't see a tremendous profit loss from people tearing apart their I-Openers or cat shaped scanners. Companies need to consider possibilities like that long before they make their products available.
I'm not sure about legislation that protects companies when they try to market a hardware/service combo. What would that actually accomplish? If a guy a Radio Shack gave me a scanner would I be forced to scan something with it? Would I be forced to install their software? What if I went out and bought a TiVo but decided I didn't like it, would I have to use the thing or could I just throw it in the trash?
The majority of the people who use the cracks do so because Cue's software either doesn't work on their OS or because they don't want Cue to snoop on them. In either case the EULA would never be seen by the user, I can't imagine that it would be enforceable.
Uhhhh, they do that. So do pretty much all large corporations in the US. Its like picking up a copy of Motor Trend, you almost never read a bad road test report because the guys who make the cars are the same guys who buy the ads. It isn't really a Bad Thing, it is just a company choosing to give its advertising dollars to the friendly media. The biggest suprise about this article is that it was seen as news.
Stamping 'DO NOT MAKE ILLEGAL COPIES OF THIS DISC' didn't work as well as they had planned so the next step is a DNA scanner built into every CD drive and a Little Bit of Bill wiped on every disc.
I'm not sure if I agree that the adventure game genre is dead or even vanishing but I think the decline is not necessarily related to a change in the taste of individual gamers, more likely a change in the population (or demographic if you want to use marketing terms) of them. More and more people jump into gaming every day so the population is bound to get dilluted with something other than hard core players. The hard core guys who want to spend hours figuring out a small puzzle are still around, there are just a lot more people who want to grab a cannon of blow up a bunch of stuff.
Market theories are based on a number of parameters that seldom align in the real world. That doesn't mean that the theories are incorrect (or the models based on thsoe theories). If insufficient information is included, or if too few varibles are considered, the model will not predict behavior.