This is irrelevant. As long as he/she uses it legally (for example downloading DM/phish tracks) then the existance or not of alternatives does not matter a bit. It comes down to personal choice. Other people may choose Napster, other Netscape, other IE, other CuteFtp, other may be too bored to search Napster or the Web and get a tape etc. As long as it is legal it shouldn't matter
Re:why go to the trouble of complaining to Malda..
on
Unisys Cracks The Whip
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· Score: 1
Send a message to Unisys identifying Slashdot as a site violating the gif licensing terms. Remind the company that if they are negligent in demanding the $5000 licensing fee from Slashdot, Unisys will run the risk of their intellectual property falling into the public domain- as is the case with any copywrited material which isn't dilegently protected by a myriad of lawsuits.
Actually...shouldn't this have happened allready ? After all Unisys has waited for 10 years to enforce their patent.
Of course this is not valid. Patents are not the same as trademarks and you can hold a patent, not defend and it will still be valid after a decade or more (until it expires of course). If GIF was a Unisys trademark then it would be long gone now (like Aspirin, Xerox etc).
In my oppinion wheel mouse support should be secondary. I mean the product is in beta now and the developers are rushing to complete more important bugs and enable more important features. Wheel mouse support should be something trivial and will be in shortly, I believe. It's just not that important yet.
You may have a point with the HTML render engine though. However it did not take them 2 years, or else they wouldn't have done anything else (remember, the open source project started two years and -almost- a month ago).
Well, if you think about it in a different way it does make sense. First of all, the Japanese Government and big Japanese corporations have always worked together. Much closer than in the US or even Europe. So don't believe than the Japanese goverment would hurt intentionally a corporation like Sony. No way.
What is happening here is I believe that Sony does not want to have massive exports to the US/Europe now. Maybe they want to sell it higher in 3 months time in the US, bundle the hardware with software/services (i.e. Internet access) of their choice etc. All that stuff could mean a lot for their bottom line, especially if they strike a deal with someone as, say, AOL. Therefore they are determined to kill the independent export business. And this seems to be the most effective way, by having the Japanese government declare them as potential Weapons Platfrorm. This away they also avoid WTO/trade aggreements (How can the US complain ? after all they did limit exports of 128-bit software, Crays Apple G4s etc for years)
If you come down to it, controlling the exports (from Japan) and releasing in whenever they choose and under terms they choose should be very vital to Sony. Even if one independet retailer beat them and sold it through the Internet, it would be a lot less revenue for them (yes, they would still get the money for the consoles but you have to take into account that they are aiming for much more). Imagine if Amazon.com was that retailer. (And anyway the article closes with the remark that this order will not hinder the release day in other countries. So they don't seem to be bothered by it, rather happy I would say
Why not ? After all when you purchase a CD/LP/cassete or whatever you buy the license to listen to the music in whatever format/media you choose Once this meant taping the LP but now there are other options. Why is it illegal listening to an mp3 ? Because it is a format that does not deteriorate with time while the LP does ? What does this have to do with my licensing and fair-use rights ? IANAL but I have asked lawyers about this and while at first they were sceptical they were finally convinced that I may have point.
I don't know about VHS/DVD but if I have bought an old PC game on disks then I believe I have the right to copy the disks to a CD or a large HDD and use them from here ? Don't I?
I don't know and I don't care. I use Napster and Gnutella to (mostly) download songs for which I have a (paid) vinyl record (do you remember they were called LPs ?) or even a CD with the same song. I do it because it's easier/cheaper (or both) for me than ripping (and I cannot even listen to the old LP's since my player is broken and nobody fixes LP players anymbore). Of course this is not illegal and is a legitimate use of Napster that could stand in court
Other people use Napster to search for Garage bands and other freely distributable music like the National Anthem. I prefer to use Mp3.com for that but I guess this is personal.
There is a third potential use : sampling. That means download tracks for sampling and then erase them if you don't like or can't afford the CD or buy a CD with the track(s).
Of course, to be honest, many people do infringe copyrights using Napster. Other people infringe copyrights using ftp and http servers. (some even do it with e-mail servers) Should we ban ftpd and Apache then ? Why not, after all these programs are helping pirates and thieves. Not all of ftpd and Apache users have a legal right to distribute MP3 files through them, have they?
As for Gnutella if you look closely you can realize that Gnutella is in essence 4 programmes bunled together : An FTP server, A (stripped down) FTP client, a search engine and a search agent. Napster is similar but there is no search engine in the software, instead the search agent connects to a centralized location. How is this bundling illegal in itself
At the end of the day however I still have a question : How will the Napster guys make money from it ? (provided of course the RIAA does not shut them down
The real question IMHO should be : how many people use Napster legitimately and how many not. If you expect 100% of all users
While I do share your preferences in sci-fi book Novels over (bad) SF movies/TV serials and (especially) tie-ins in book form, I believe the primary reason that said SF movies/TV serials suck is precisely because "real" Novel writers are not involved in them
On the other hand when there is a writer actively involved in the production of a movie/tv show then generally things are better. Take Babylon 5 as an example. JMS, the producer and visionary behind the show is a writer. He came with an idea and a vision (a five-year novel for the TV) and produced a really Good, entertaining and consistent show. When B5 ended it was not because ratings were low, or the people were tired , or simply because the writers could not think of something else to keep people's attention. It ended because (and in the way) it was planned all along to end in the 5th year. After the finale, the viewer does not feel in any way cheated, he feels like someone who finished reading a terrific book and now has to close it. But he/she will always remeber it.
Another example is the classic 2001:A Space Odyssey, where Arthur Clarke was heavily involved in the visualization of his famous book. Another example is the success of the TOS itself. Roddenberry had comissioned several well known SF writers of the time (Harlan Elisson and Norman Spinrad come to mind). The result was some very sucesful TOS episodes.
Maybe Paramount should consider doing something like that. It would be better for the quality of the show (and maybe they will need someone like JMS if they want to bring a show with a more arc-ish structure as the title 'Birth Of The Federation' implies
I believe adapting the whole of Silmarillion would be too much. I agree that it probably is more complete than LOTR but if someone does it in a movie then the result would be rather confusing.
On the other hand, there are chapters of the Silmarillion saga that could very wall be the basis of movies on their own merit. For example the love-heroism-love story of Beren and Luthien.
Well, excuse me, but I can think of a couple of uses of Napster
For example let's say that I have a lot of old vinyl records. Let's say that my father was a collector and when he passed away I naturally inherited them. I also had bought some on my own, back when this was possible (10-15 years ago).
Now I suppose I still have the right to listen to that music, right? At home, driving my car, wherever I choose. I also assume that everybody aggrees that if I have purchased a CD I can legitmately rip it to mp3 and listen to it from my hard drive, right? Well, "riping" a LP record is rather tough, time consuming, to say the least. Now instead of going through the fuss of jacking my old vinyl player to my soundcard (assuming my vinyl player is still working, which could be improbable) and recording/encoding to mp3, I prefer to search for the song in Napster, Gnutella, mp3.lycos.com etc and have it downloaded in the background while I do other work.
Is this bad or illegimate ? I don't think so. The artist has already been compensated. Maybe the record company would be more happy if I just went out and bought the CD and pay them twice for the same thing (hell, some of those LPs do not even exist in CD format).
I am not saying that everybody that uses Napster does so in a legitimate way. Sure, there are people who are getting for free something they should have paid for (and you have to remember that high CD prices are also responsible for this phenomenon. There is no smoke without a fire).
My point is that there could be legitimate uses for Napster. One is obvious: distribution of "legitimate" mp3s (non-copyright items or items where the copyright holder does not object to such distribution). Another one is my case. I am sure there may be more. Furthermore, Gnutella may have even wider applications since it's not limited to mp3.
(I believe that proving there are legitimate uses for Napster, even according to current US laws, could be a vital point for the Napster defence).
Slashdot Mirror
This is irrelevant. As long as he/she uses it legally (for example downloading DM/phish tracks) then the existance or not of alternatives does not matter a bit. It comes down to personal choice. Other people may choose Napster, other Netscape, other IE, other CuteFtp, other may be too bored to search Napster or the Web and get a tape etc. As long as it is legal it shouldn't matter
Send a message to Unisys identifying Slashdot as a site violating the gif licensing terms. Remind the company that if they are negligent in demanding the $5000 licensing fee from Slashdot, Unisys will run the risk of their intellectual property falling into the public domain- as is the case with any copywrited material which isn't dilegently protected by a myriad of lawsuits.
Actually...shouldn't this have happened allready ? After all Unisys has waited for 10 years to enforce their patent.
Of course this is not valid. Patents are not the same as trademarks and you can hold a patent, not defend and it will still be valid after a decade or more (until it expires of course). If GIF was a Unisys trademark then it would be long gone now (like Aspirin, Xerox etc).
In my oppinion wheel mouse support should be secondary. I mean the product is in beta now and the developers are rushing to complete more important bugs and enable more important features. Wheel mouse support should be something trivial and will be in shortly, I believe. It's just not that important yet.
You may have a point with the HTML render engine though. However it did not take them 2 years, or else they wouldn't have done anything else (remember, the open source project started two years and -almost- a month ago).
Well, if you think about it in a different way it does make sense. First of all, the Japanese Government and big Japanese corporations have always worked together. Much closer than in the US or even Europe. So don't believe than the Japanese goverment would hurt intentionally a corporation like Sony. No way.
What is happening here is I believe that Sony does not want to have massive exports to the US/Europe now. Maybe they want to sell it higher in 3 months time in the US, bundle the hardware with software/services (i.e. Internet access) of their choice etc. All that stuff could mean a lot for their bottom line, especially if they strike a deal with someone as, say, AOL. Therefore they are determined to kill the independent export business. And this seems to be the most effective way, by having the Japanese government declare them as potential Weapons Platfrorm. This away they also avoid WTO/trade aggreements (How can the US complain ? after all they did limit exports of 128-bit software, Crays Apple G4s etc for years)
If you come down to it, controlling the exports (from Japan) and releasing in whenever they choose and under terms they choose should be very vital to Sony. Even if one independet retailer beat them and sold it through the Internet, it would be a lot less revenue for them (yes, they would still get the money for the consoles but you have to take into account that they are aiming for much more). Imagine if Amazon.com was that retailer. (And anyway the article closes with the remark that this order will not hinder the release day in other countries. So they don't seem to be bothered by it, rather happy I would say
Just my HO
pdionWhy not ? After all when you purchase a CD/LP/cassete or whatever you buy the license to listen to the music in whatever format/media you choose Once this meant taping the LP but now there are other options. Why is it illegal listening to an mp3 ? Because it is a format that does not deteriorate with time while the LP does ? What does this have to do with my licensing and fair-use rights ? IANAL but I have asked lawyers about this and while at first they were sceptical they were finally convinced that I may have point.
I don't know about VHS/DVD but if I have bought an old PC game on disks then I believe I have the right to copy the disks to a CD or a large HDD and use them from here ? Don't I?
I don't know and I don't care. I use Napster and Gnutella to (mostly) download songs for which I have a (paid) vinyl record (do you remember they were called LPs ?) or even a CD with the same song. I do it because it's easier/cheaper (or both) for me than ripping (and I cannot even listen to the old LP's since my player is broken and nobody fixes LP players anymbore). Of course this is not illegal and is a legitimate use of Napster that could stand in court
Other people use Napster to search for Garage bands and other freely distributable music like the National Anthem. I prefer to use Mp3.com for that but I guess this is personal.
There is a third potential use : sampling. That means download tracks for sampling and then erase them if you don't like or can't afford the CD or buy a CD with the track(s).
Of course, to be honest, many people do infringe copyrights using Napster. Other people infringe copyrights using ftp and http servers. (some even do it with e-mail servers) Should we ban ftpd and Apache then ? Why not, after all these programs are helping pirates and thieves. Not all of ftpd and Apache users have a legal right to distribute MP3 files through them, have they?
As for Gnutella if you look closely you can realize that Gnutella is in essence 4 programmes bunled together : An FTP server, A (stripped down) FTP client, a search engine and a search agent. Napster is similar but there is no search engine in the software, instead the search agent connects to a centralized location. How is this bundling illegal in itself
At the end of the day however I still have a question : How will the Napster guys make money from it ? (provided of course the RIAA does not shut them down
The real question IMHO should be : how many people use Napster legitimately and how many not. If you expect 100% of all users
While I do share your preferences in sci-fi book Novels over (bad) SF movies/TV serials and (especially) tie-ins in book form, I believe the primary reason that said SF movies/TV serials suck is precisely because "real" Novel writers are not involved in them
On the other hand when there is a writer actively involved in the production of a movie/tv show then generally things are better.
Take Babylon 5 as an example. JMS, the producer and visionary behind the show is a writer. He came with an idea and a vision (a five-year novel for the TV) and produced a really Good, entertaining and consistent show. When B5 ended it was not because ratings were low, or the people were tired , or simply because the writers could not think of something else to keep people's attention. It ended because (and in the way) it was planned all along to end in the 5th year. After the finale, the viewer does not feel in any way cheated, he feels like someone who finished reading a terrific book and now has to close it. But he/she will always remeber it.
Another example is the classic 2001:A Space Odyssey, where Arthur Clarke was heavily involved in the visualization of his famous book. Another example is the success of the TOS itself. Roddenberry had comissioned several well known SF writers of the time (Harlan Elisson and Norman Spinrad come to mind). The result was some very sucesful TOS episodes.
Maybe Paramount should consider doing something like that. It would be better for the quality of the show (and maybe they will need someone like JMS if they want to bring a show with a more arc-ish structure as the title 'Birth Of The Federation' implies
I believe adapting the whole of Silmarillion would be too much. I agree that it probably is more complete than LOTR but if someone does it in a movie then the result would be rather confusing.
On the other hand, there are chapters of the Silmarillion saga that could very wall be the basis of movies on their own merit. For example the love-heroism-love story of Beren and Luthien.
Well, excuse me, but I can think of a couple of uses of Napster
For example let's say that I have a lot of old vinyl records. Let's say that my father was a collector and when he passed away I naturally inherited them. I also had bought some on my own,
back when this was possible (10-15 years ago).
Now I suppose I still have the right to listen to that music, right? At home, driving my car, wherever I choose. I also assume that everybody aggrees that if I have purchased a CD I can legitmately rip it to mp3 and listen to it from my hard drive, right? Well, "riping" a LP record is rather tough, time consuming, to say the least.
Now instead of going through the fuss of jacking my old vinyl player to my soundcard (assuming my vinyl player is still working, which could be improbable) and recording/encoding to mp3, I prefer to search for the song in Napster, Gnutella, mp3.lycos.com etc and have it downloaded in the background while I do other work.
Is this bad or illegimate ? I don't think so. The artist has already been compensated. Maybe the record company would be more happy if I just went out and bought the CD and pay them twice for the same thing (hell, some of those LPs do not even exist in CD format).
I am not saying that everybody that uses Napster does so in a legitimate way. Sure, there are people who are getting for free something they should have paid for (and you have to remember that high CD prices are also responsible for this phenomenon. There is no smoke without a fire).
My point is that there could be legitimate uses for Napster.
One is obvious: distribution of "legitimate" mp3s (non-copyright items or items where the copyright holder does not object to such distribution). Another one is my case. I am sure there may be more. Furthermore, Gnutella may have even wider applications since it's not limited to mp3.
(I believe that proving there are legitimate uses for Napster, even according to current US laws, could be a vital point for the Napster defence).
Just my thoughts on the subject