Been on a commercial airliner lately? How about 8 hours on the tarmac without airconditioning strapped into a seat that's 2" too narrow with 300-lb companions on either side of you and crying toddlers behind and in front of you
Nope, but I heard plenty about it on CNN and in the papers. In fact, there were lawsuits, and lots of customers have jumped ship to other airlines.
How about Tobacco? They don't abuse their customers, they just cripple and then kill them.
Yep. Seen lots of headlines about this one too. There were even huge lawsuits!
Meat packing? Widespread E-coli outbreaks
Oh yeah. Lots of headlines about this one too. The FDA got involved, too, and stopped distribution. In fact, the most recent guilty meat-packer closed down because of it!
So we've established that Microsoft is yet another in a long line of companies that screw their customers. Yet not much happens to them despite the historical precedent. I've yet to see big headlines about any of the issues in Vista. Nor have they closed shop--quite the contrary, they continue to make more money than a whole lot of countries. Lots of people grumble, but somehow it never makes the news and Microsoft still makes off like a bandit.
One of the purposes of copyright expiration was to keep such information from being lost forever when the purely commercial interest was gone and existing copies degraded
I disagree.
Copyright is a tradeoff between inhibiting people's natural ability/right to copy (and improve on) an idea or work of art and the desire to have more ideas and artwork than would happen if people's natural ability/right to copy were infringed upon. So you give the creator a temporary monopoly in their work (i.e. prevent others from copying the work) in order to allow the author to gather money/prestige/whatever in the hopes that the author will reinvest the gains from the previous work in new works. After a time, it is counterproductive to continue infringing upon the citizens' natural abilities/rights, so copyright expires.
Please provide a method on how to backup my TV, my couch, my oven, etc, so when I'm robbed I'm good to go.
Sorry, physical goods and electronic goods are not the same. Now, when you have a matter compiler, we can talk more about it.
Oh wait, that's right, it's called home owner's insurance, which applies to everything you own (as long as you chose to cover it).
Yes, homeowner's (and renter's) insurance is a fallback for some major disasters like I outlined. However, there are caveats:
It covers stuff when it's in your home (What about your DS games or CDs or whatever? Remember, O Strong Copyrighter, that making MP3s of your CDs are illegal--you must use the original media!)
It usually has a considerable deductible.
Your insurance agent will ding you (i.e. raise premiums) when you take it, so you have to choose carefully when you cover a loss, so a minor theft is most likely in your pockets, not theirs. (In fact, they will drop you if you file too many claims!)
Flooding can and will happen, but flood insurance is a separate (and costly!) option to add. Say you're in a 500-year flood plain (most places are in some sort of flooding area; the question is how often it occurs). The chances of you getting flooded any time in the near future are small. Would you elect to pay the (rather costly) insurance for everything, or just a set of things (which likely excludes games and music)? Why pay extra if you could back it up?
Choosing to cover stuff is a trade-off. You can cover more (and increase premiums) or cover less (and decrease premiums). So you're saying we should have to increase premiums, because backing up a CD should be prohibited?!
So your reasoning to ban all backing up of your legally-acquired copies of music, games, movies, etc. is because you can get insurance which may or may not completely cover the loss (if you chose to pay the higher premiums to get the coverage), if it covers the loss at all?. I'm afraid I just don't agree with you.
are you seriously suggesting that if you lived in New Orleans, not only would you have backups of everything, you would have off-site backups?
No, my point was first and foremost to point out that not all losses are preventable. It was for that purpose that I presented Louisiana as a counterpoint to the extremely naiive position of "just take care of your stuff".
Second, having more than one copy greatly increases the liklihood of a copy surviving a disaster.
not only would you have backups of everything, you would have off-site backups? Not just "off-site" either mind you, but off-city backups?!
Now you're just flying off the handle here, AC:
Not everything need be backed up for backups to be good
Not every backup need be off-site to increase the likelihood of a copy of the content to survive. Off-site only makes it (almost) guaranteed. For instance, if you make a copy of your game or whatever, you'll probably keep one of the two (probably original) in a safe place, which is much more likely to survive disaster (e.g. in a fire/water-proof safe or safe-deposit box or even just in a box in the attic). Without backups, you'll have to trade off safety and convenience (and probably just lose everything in a disaster).
Finally, you've latched on to one of my three examples! What about the others, eh?
I lost a few CD's to scratches when I was a kid. My parents never said, well you should have made a back up copy, they were more apt to say "GD it! When are you going to learn to take care of the stuff we buy you", so fast forward a decade later and how many DVD's or games have a lost to scratches. None.
You had mediocre parents and have had the good fortune (thus far) to be in complete control of your stuff. Not everyone (e.g. Greensboro KS, Louisiana, and various random people who've been burgled or robbed) is so lucky.
Having/maintaning good backups is part of "taking care of your stuff."
If your friend scratches them your friend owes you a new disk, if your child scratches them, well if that's the worst your child does to your stuff you got off easy, if your significant other scratches them, you have to take the good with the bad. If your pet scratches them... Wait what?!? Thats just stupid. I can't see any good reason why your pet should come near your media... Media has cases and those cases should be stored some where that Rover can't get to.
Aside from "If you had backups, there'd be no problem" you focus in on one case of loss: damage through people or pets who were granted access. There are many other scenarios, including the ones I've previously outlined. The solution to the problem is backups.
Maybe they don't have all the data they need. Their ordering system supports it, but they don't have the data to feed to the system.
Could be. It'd not be that hard to get it. They can even lean on their component suppliers to get the information for them.
it's often the case that companies often don't have the data they need, even on their own products, to be able to pull something like this together.
I'd expect a vendor to know their products. How else do they put the drivers together to make Windows work?
Indeed, I can't believe I missed this little gem of yours: "the driver situation on Linux". The driver situation is significantly better than the driver situation on Windows. The only difference is that the vendor makes additional drivers for Windows (including driver and hardware interplay in the final system). Indicating that the hardware vendor needs to know the hardware, no?
I dunno about what proportion of MP3 players play AAC (I'm guessing that it's less than the number that play MP3), but I think you miss the point: iTMS requires, erm, iT.
At the moment, linux users can only get single tracks, which is more costly than the whole album.
Good point. I'd not realized the price discrepancy.
Also, apparently you cannot re-download without the magic software. (can't find my source for this anymore. It was either Ars Technica or a Planet that I read.)
Regardless, at least it works to some degree, in contrast to iTunes. And Magnatune Just Works Better.:)
Personally, I would like to know from people who have system76 boxes, as they've done Ubuntu pre-installed across all of their systems, not some hidden option (you know, publicly placed down in the dark basement, across a moat with live alligators, in a locked file cabinet...) on their website for a laptop or two.
commercial users can also use InstallShild, with all its point-n-click GUIness. Or the loki installer. There are probably others, but these are the 2 I know of offhand.
They can't garauntee that Linux works with every hardware configuration, so they create some configurations that do work under Linux, and let you buy from those. Although I think it would be nice if their ordering system figured out that yes, you system was compatible with Linux, and let you choose it, or point out which items aren't compatible with Linux, and offer alternatives.
Sounds plausible, except that they already do this. Some peripherals require Vista or some version of Vista, and you get a little warning if you choose them without having selected whatever is required.
I'm trying to figure out what you mean exactly, but failing.
How about this: if you can provide a detailed writeup/recommendation of what you want, I'll bring it to the devs' attention (#dev.openoffice.org/#go-oo on freenode.net) and/or file the bug.
Of course, you can always do it yourself, if you prefer.
I was told that I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven, I told Bill that if Sandra is going to listen to her headphones while she's filing then I should be able to listen to the radio while I'm collating so I don't see why I should have to turn down the radio because I enjoy listening at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven.
I doubt anyone is going to pay you to take care of them.
No, nobody pays you to look after your own kids. OTOH, people do get paid all of the time doing the work (i.e. for looking out for someone else's kids.) Still others do it voluntarily, be it in an orphanage, family situation, or just friends.
some coders can actually get paid for the code they produce, because their code is worth the purchase...
They get paid by others for the work they do (i.e. producing code), the same as some people get paid by others for the work they do (i.e. babysitting, daycare).
In other news, you don't pay yourself for the car you built, or the program you wrote either.
Slashdot Mirror
So we've established that Microsoft is yet another in a long line of companies that screw their customers. Yet not much happens to them despite the historical precedent. I've yet to see big headlines about any of the issues in Vista. Nor have they closed shop--quite the contrary, they continue to make more money than a whole lot of countries. Lots of people grumble, but somehow it never makes the news and Microsoft still makes off like a bandit.
I disagree.
Copyright is a tradeoff between inhibiting people's natural ability/right to copy (and improve on) an idea or work of art and the desire to have more ideas and artwork than would happen if people's natural ability/right to copy were infringed upon. So you give the creator a temporary monopoly in their work (i.e. prevent others from copying the work) in order to allow the author to gather money/prestige/whatever in the hopes that the author will reinvest the gains from the previous work in new works. After a time, it is counterproductive to continue infringing upon the citizens' natural abilities/rights, so copyright expires.
So your reasoning to ban all backing up of your legally-acquired copies of music, games, movies, etc. is because you can get insurance which may or may not completely cover the loss (if you chose to pay the higher premiums to get the coverage), if it covers the loss at all?. I'm afraid I just don't agree with you.
No, my point was first and foremost to point out that not all losses are preventable. It was for that purpose that I presented Louisiana as a counterpoint to the extremely naiive position of "just take care of your stuff".
Second, having more than one copy greatly increases the liklihood of a copy surviving a disaster.
Now you're just flying off the handle here, AC:Finally, you've latched on to one of my three examples! What about the others, eh?
You had mediocre parents and have had the good fortune (thus far) to be in complete control of your stuff. Not everyone (e.g. Greensboro KS, Louisiana, and various random people who've been burgled or robbed) is so lucky.
Having/maintaning good backups is part of "taking care of your stuff."
Aside from "If you had backups, there'd be no problem" you focus in on one case of loss: damage through people or pets who were granted access. There are many other scenarios, including the ones I've previously outlined. The solution to the problem is backups .
Could be. It'd not be that hard to get it. They can even lean on their component suppliers to get the information for them.
I'd expect a vendor to know their products. How else do they put the drivers together to make Windows work?
Indeed, I can't believe I missed this little gem of yours: "the driver situation on Linux". The driver situation is significantly better than the driver situation on Windows. The only difference is that the vendor makes additional drivers for Windows (including driver and hardware interplay in the final system). Indicating that the hardware vendor needs to know the hardware, no?
Stupid Amazon. :(
I dunno about what proportion of MP3 players play AAC (I'm guessing that it's less than the number that play MP3), but I think you miss the point: iTMS requires, erm, iT.
Heh. Good to know that Anonymous Cowards still have no taste in music. :)
Good point. I'd not realized the price discrepancy.
Also, apparently you cannot re-download without the magic software. (can't find my source for this anymore. It was either Ars Technica or a Planet that I read.)
Regardless, at least it works to some degree, in contrast to iTunes. And Magnatune Just Works Better. :)
Regarding US-only: I did find this.
Amazon and Magnatune work on Linux. Or just about any OS, for that matter. And they work with any MP3 player ('cause they're, you know, MP3s).
Personally, I would like to know from people who have system76 boxes, as they've done Ubuntu pre-installed across all of their systems, not some hidden option (you know, publicly placed down in the dark basement, across a moat with live alligators, in a locked file cabinet...) on their website for a laptop or two.
Anyone have experience with System76?
commercial users can also use InstallShild, with all its point-n-click GUIness. Or the loki installer. There are probably others, but these are the 2 I know of offhand.
We told you, but you just called us paranoiacs and laughed at our tinfoil hats! This fall, the fashion accessory is foil!
That about says it all. Does Microsoft still own Newsweek?
Out of curiosity, how would you export a PowerPoint presentation to Flash or PDF?
Could I get a link, please? The more people making noise, the better.
I'm trying to figure out what you mean exactly, but failing.
How about this: if you can provide a detailed writeup/recommendation of what you want, I'll bring it to the devs' attention (#dev.openoffice.org/#go-oo on freenode.net) and/or file the bug.
Of course, you can always do it yourself, if you prefer.
If you'll provide the test document(s) and screen shots illustrating your point, I'll file the bug.
Care to share the list? Thanks!
blatantly ripped from the IMDB
Congratulations, you've totally and completely missed the point.
Very good analogy, actually.
No, nobody pays you to look after your own kids. OTOH, people do get paid all of the time doing the work (i.e. for looking out for someone else's kids.) Still others do it voluntarily, be it in an orphanage, family situation, or just friends.
They get paid by others for the work they do (i.e. producing code), the same as some people get paid by others for the work they do (i.e. babysitting, daycare).
In other news, you don't pay yourself for the car you built, or the program you wrote either.