censorship is about preventing speech because of its content, this is about preventing a database of personal and financial details from going online because its safety is dubious ?
1- above all, there was a lot less of it. Win7 is rumored to be about 50 million lines of code. I can't find the C64's rom size, but it's at least 2 orders of magnitude less. 2- there were no security issues requiring frequent updates. the C64 was not connected to the internet, and the basic OS was in ROM, so any security holes remained un-exploited 3- nobody cared about bugs, especially since the OS did so little anyway. I never had the money for a C64, but my ZX Spectrum had plenty of bugs. 4- I remember very well that the C64 sorely needed un OS update to its floppy disc functions:-p
Apparently, it's handled in software or firmware on the host's side. There's feed back on the forums of people who've hacked it hardware style (short it, cover it)... I'm too lazy to keep looking for a software hack.
Good question though. The answer is: it's not very trustworthy, as the host has to politely refrain from writing, instead of it being the device to becomes physically un-writable.
I'm going to be branded a socialist, but I think we need a system where DRM is NOT dependent on proprietary software and servers. The various industries/actors don't seem to be putting that in place, so I guess it would fall to the government to force it. Pretty much like they're standardizing car fuel so any station can supply any car, pizza toppings....
It would be good to have a single system (so content could move from one device to another), independent from original vendor (so one company's failure / change of mind doesn't lock us out of our own, paid for, content).
Has anyone ever told you that the way you try and make your points actually kinda weakens them ? Your post has some interesting content, but the way it is written angers, distracts, even takes away quite a chunk of your credibility.
Being able to install whichever piece of hardware I want, to run whichever program or utility I want, and to enjoy whichever content I want, and to do all this offline, is a daily torture.
We Slashdot nerds are not "most people", but before we can recommend/install computers to/for others, we need to be familiar and confident about them. I'm a PC person, I have a hard time recommending Macs, even though (or because ?) my brother is a Mac person. But I think I'd have a harder time recommending Chromebooks. The "one hardware fits all, Javascript fits all, forced OS updates, off-line as a second thought, your info are belong to us" jive I'm getting makes me very cautious.
I'd love for MS to do a better job at being affordable ($200+ to get RDP server ? really ???) and reliable (why won't 7x64 SP1 install on one of my 3 PCs, even though it has the same MB as the others ?). I think they're doing an OK job at ergonomics (even more so after trying Ubuntu 10.4) and features... at least, they're quick to copy whatever others come up with. And I love the freedom to build my PCs, to install and watch/read/listen to whatever I want. And to unplug from the net, and to actually own my data.
The googlebooks are more netbooks than notebooks, and a good netbook is $300 tops. I'd rather pay that, have local storage and access to my apps while off line... and get to own to hardware and the software, and keep using it for free as long as I want.
Google's announcement combines many things I don't like: - renting things for a very high monthly payment, which means you could actually buy the thing for only 1 year's worth of rent. Imagine if they did that with appartments. (sorry, couldn't fit in a pizza... oh wait, the car !) - the cloud. read the sig. I like my apps and data to be accessible off-line, and easy to backup. and secure. - walled playpen. - spying on me and selling the info - plus the hardware is not that hot
RTFA: they choose a phone version of android; not even the latest one (both articles say 2.2, or 1.6) , and not only did they not try to tablet-ize it, but it barely supports the hardware (no turning off the screen, on ly the whole tablet). So it's the ususal so-so windows experience on one side, or a significantly worse than usual android experience on the other.
plus, if they were serious and truthful about it, they would have opened it and relinquished absoluted control via some kind of overseeing foundation / steering committee. which they most assuredly didn't.
nope, they're saying that the copyright/patent situation is not clear at all, and that MS pushing c# so hard right now, including via mono, in no way guarantees that they won't have a change of mind 5 months - 6 years from now, and close everything up again.
Actually, it may not even be a change of heart, but simply the plan, from the start. Some variation on embrace and extend.
Investing any amount of dev resources in c# implies a huge trust not only in MS's current new found friendliness to Open things, but also of the resilience of that mantra with the next CEO/policy/sales figures change.
"Blu-Ray represents the death throes of 20th century technology"
how ? why ? 'cos being dependent on an internet connection, authentification servers, and whatever other conditions Apple put up for iTunes resale, to watch your films is so much better than popping a disc in a drive ?
someone drank the kool-aid. 15 years from now, the other one will still be able to watch his films.
1- my country-dwelling parents can't even watch SD ADSLTV because their ADSL link is too bad. I'm sure they could download HD movies in no more than a couple/handful of days, but sometimes watching movies is, you know, a spur-of-the-moment thing ?
2- Also, they're not much into computers, so teaching them to backup their movies to an external HD, wait till copying is finished, eject, grab the HD + the data cable + the power cable, check with their friends that they have what it takes to read their disks... sounds a LOT more complicated than "grab the disk and go".
3- also, some people do not have a computer connected to their TV, nor any way to read films of a HD. Past a certain age, it's actually *most* people.
Yes. I hate plugins, they break regularly, especially with major releases, and they can be a security risk.
I'm not 100% against them per se, but, if a browser has a specific functionnality built-in, while another requires a plug-in... I'll tend to use the full-featured browser, instead of the plugin-crutched one. In firefox's case, the situation used to be very extreme, with plugins needed for almost any interesting feature that was standard in Opera (synch, mouse gestures...). I tried Ffox a handful of times, and always gave it up due to incessant plugin updates, or plain broken plugins.
Unless the guy did something illegal to get it, he's free to do as he wishes with his money. Plus, he's obviously spending it according to your post, not even hoarding it.
My advice to you: quit being an envious whiner, and focus on your own life instead of bitching about others'.
I'm not so sure about rigorous... 1- I personnally have never lost a single byte of meaningful data 2- do amazon detail their exact procedures and commitments ? 3- do amazon backup those "commitments" with hard cash ? How much will the people whose data they lost be compensated ?
There's negotiating, verifying, enforcing, and punishing. I'm not quite with you about customers being able to negotiate contracts, let alone verify obligations are being met, and they certainly can't enforce them, nor punish if required.
The ROKR was a Motorola phone, with access to iTunes. Not an Apple Phone.
The Playbook is a full-on RIM tablet. Releasing it with unfinished software is a very risky move. They might not survive the negative reviews, may not be able to fix it fast enough... I understand RIM (and Motorola) wanting to get their feet wet and damn the torpedoes, but with a much better finished (and, arguably, designed) eeePad, and HP's WebOS thingy, and others, just around the corner, RIM and Moto may end up looking like premature ejaculators trying to compete with experienced lovers.
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censorship is about preventing speech because of its content, this is about preventing a database of personal and financial details from going online because its safety is dubious ?
I'll bite
1- above all, there was a lot less of it. Win7 is rumored to be about 50 million lines of code. I can't find the C64's rom size, but it's at least 2 orders of magnitude less. :-p
2- there were no security issues requiring frequent updates. the C64 was not connected to the internet, and the basic OS was in ROM, so any security holes remained un-exploited
3- nobody cared about bugs, especially since the OS did so little anyway. I never had the money for a C64, but my ZX Spectrum had plenty of bugs.
4- I remember very well that the C64 sorely needed un OS update to its floppy disc functions
Apparently, it's handled in software or firmware on the host's side. There's feed back on the forums of people who've hacked it hardware style (short it, cover it)... I'm too lazy to keep looking for a software hack.
Good question though. The answer is: it's not very trustworthy, as the host has to politely refrain from writing, instead of it being the device to becomes physically un-writable.
I'm going to be branded a socialist, but I think we need a system where DRM is NOT dependent on proprietary software and servers. The various industries/actors don't seem to be putting that in place, so I guess it would fall to the government to force it. Pretty much like they're standardizing car fuel so any station can supply any car, pizza toppings....
It would be good to have a single system (so content could move from one device to another), independent from original vendor (so one company's failure / change of mind doesn't lock us out of our own, paid for, content).
mine's on a rotating stand that gets rotated daily, so your case is not universal.
Sorry, offtopic:
Has anyone ever told you that the way you try and make your points actually kinda weakens them ? Your post has some interesting content, but the way it is written angers, distracts, even takes away quite a chunk of your credibility.
Being able to install whichever piece of hardware I want, to run whichever program or utility I want, and to enjoy whichever content I want, and to do all this offline, is a daily torture.
We Slashdot nerds are not "most people", but before we can recommend/install computers to/for others, we need to be familiar and confident about them. I'm a PC person, I have a hard time recommending Macs, even though (or because ?) my brother is a Mac person. But I think I'd have a harder time recommending Chromebooks. The "one hardware fits all, Javascript fits all, forced OS updates, off-line as a second thought, your info are belong to us" jive I'm getting makes me very cautious.
I'd love for MS to do a better job at being affordable ($200+ to get RDP server ? really ???) and reliable (why won't 7x64 SP1 install on one of my 3 PCs, even though it has the same MB as the others ?). I think they're doing an OK job at ergonomics (even more so after trying Ubuntu 10.4) and features... at least, they're quick to copy whatever others come up with. And I love the freedom to build my PCs, to install and watch/read/listen to whatever I want. And to unplug from the net, and to actually own my data.
The googlebooks are more netbooks than notebooks, and a good netbook is $300 tops. I'd rather pay that, have local storage and access to my apps while off line... and get to own to hardware and the software, and keep using it for free as long as I want.
Google's announcement combines many things I don't like:
- renting things for a very high monthly payment, which means you could actually buy the thing for only 1 year's worth of rent. Imagine if they did that with appartments. (sorry, couldn't fit in a pizza... oh wait, the car !)
- the cloud. read the sig. I like my apps and data to be accessible off-line, and easy to backup. and secure.
- walled playpen.
- spying on me and selling the info
- plus the hardware is not that hot
RTFA: they choose a phone version of android; not even the latest one (both articles say 2.2, or 1.6) , and not only did they not try to tablet-ize it, but it barely supports the hardware (no turning off the screen, on ly the whole tablet). So it's the ususal so-so windows experience on one side, or a significantly worse than usual android experience on the other.
Are you saying that the fact the earth was made in 7 days and adam and eve just popped up is not, in your opinion, disproved yet ?
this is MS. It's not FUD, it's experience !
plus, if they were serious and truthful about it, they would have opened it and relinquished absoluted control via some kind of overseeing foundation / steering committee. which they most assuredly didn't.
nope, they're saying that the copyright/patent situation is not clear at all, and that MS pushing c# so hard right now, including via mono, in no way guarantees that they won't have a change of mind 5 months - 6 years from now, and close everything up again.
Actually, it may not even be a change of heart, but simply the plan, from the start. Some variation on embrace and extend.
Investing any amount of dev resources in c# implies a huge trust not only in MS's current new found friendliness to Open things, but also of the resilience of that mantra with the next CEO/policy/sales figures change.
I've got a bridge to sell. Cheap !
the doc only states that the detainee moved there in 2003. A couple a lines down it also states he moved away from there a year later.
Basically, it's that randomest and least remarkable mention of the place.
yep. obviously that leak prevented the US from killing OBL.
Oh, wait ...
"Blu-Ray represents the death throes of 20th century technology"
how ? why ? 'cos being dependent on an internet connection, authentification servers, and whatever other conditions Apple put up for iTunes resale, to watch your films is so much better than popping a disc in a drive ?
someone drank the kool-aid. 15 years from now, the other one will still be able to watch his films.
1- my country-dwelling parents can't even watch SD ADSLTV because their ADSL link is too bad. I'm sure they could download HD movies in no more than a couple/handful of days, but sometimes watching movies is, you know, a spur-of-the-moment thing ?
2- Also, they're not much into computers, so teaching them to backup their movies to an external HD, wait till copying is finished, eject, grab the HD + the data cable + the power cable, check with their friends that they have what it takes to read their disks... sounds a LOT more complicated than "grab the disk and go".
3- also, some people do not have a computer connected to their TV, nor any way to read films of a HD. Past a certain age, it's actually *most* people.
"Hey, let's do Movies night and bring our favorite BD !" ?
and I thought the matrix was bad...
Are you really sure that big red button would indeed take it fully down ?
It could be a fake button. Or the servers could be more resistant than you think. There could be backup power....
You'll never know...
Unless ...
Yes. I hate plugins, they break regularly, especially with major releases, and they can be a security risk.
I'm not 100% against them per se, but, if a browser has a specific functionnality built-in, while another requires a plug-in... I'll tend to use the full-featured browser, instead of the plugin-crutched one. In firefox's case, the situation used to be very extreme, with plugins needed for almost any interesting feature that was standard in Opera (synch, mouse gestures...). I tried Ffox a handful of times, and always gave it up due to incessant plugin updates, or plain broken plugins.
Unless the guy did something illegal to get it, he's free to do as he wishes with his money. Plus, he's obviously spending it according to your post, not even hoarding it.
My advice to you: quit being an envious whiner, and focus on your own life instead of bitching about others'.
I'm not so sure about rigorous...
1- I personnally have never lost a single byte of meaningful data
2- do amazon detail their exact procedures and commitments ?
3- do amazon backup those "commitments" with hard cash ? How much will the people whose data they lost be compensated ?
read the sig....
There's negotiating, verifying, enforcing, and punishing. I'm not quite with you about customers being able to negotiate contracts, let alone verify obligations are being met, and they certainly can't enforce them, nor punish if required.
Hopefully semi-serious customers do have in-house backups, and semi-serious providers do give a bit of warning before pulling the plug ?
That's a lot of effort and money down the drain for users, in any case.
The ROKR was a Motorola phone, with access to iTunes. Not an Apple Phone.
The Playbook is a full-on RIM tablet. Releasing it with unfinished software is a very risky move. They might not survive the negative reviews, may not be able to fix it fast enough... I understand RIM (and Motorola) wanting to get their feet wet and damn the torpedoes, but with a much better finished (and, arguably, designed) eeePad, and HP's WebOS thingy, and others, just around the corner, RIM and Moto may end up looking like premature ejaculators trying to compete with experienced lovers.