Unlike the US, we pay a tax on all blank media. The idea is that it compensates the artist for the copying (how exactly is another question. The group which controls this tax wanted to raise it a few years ago, but didn't actually pay any of it out). The music industry recently tried to also have it cover anything that could potentially store music - not just iPods, but hard drives and media cards.
In Canada, it's currently legal to download music, an extension of the law that you can borrow music and copy it for your own use. As well, we're paying for the ability to do (above). What's illegal is uploading music, or copying your music and giving the copy away. It's already illegal so we don't need any more file sharing laws.
As far as I see it, CRIA wants it both ways. They've tried other US-style tactics, which were all struck down by Canadian courts. They want the income from the blank media tax, but want copying to be illegal. Pick one. We can't be paying a tax to allow an activity which is illegal.
If this passes, I'll be asking for a cheque for the tax I've paid on all the blank media I've bought.
They're not on Rogers. The other carriers are cheaper but don't have the coverage. Now that all 3 cell carriers are part of a phone/cable monopoly (fido = rogers), I don't expect things to change either.
I won't start on my customer service issues here, but I'll say that right now, I'd be happy with 500 minutes without over charges, and some sort of credit if I don't use all my minutes.
What we need is an American carrier and number portability before rates will drop.
Mac OS X has a package system (.pkg) with a gui installer. However, Apple encourages developers to build an app that can just be copied to/Applications, rather than building a package. It's easier for the end user, and easier to keep the related files together - avoiding the "what app installed/foo/bar?" question.
1. Is the new system better than the one it replaced, even though it's not as good as it can be if you had waited?
2. Computers are always faster. I bought my powerbook just after it was released, it turned out that my model was replaced only a few months later. The trick is to buy a machine when you need it. If you wait for the next generation, you'll never buy anything.
The early 14.4K's did. My sportster was the right speed, but the later version. The instruction file going around the BBS's at the time had a description along the lines of "Upgrade your 14.4K sportster to a courier".
It's cheaper to have one production line and disable the extra features than run two separate lines. Sending an AT command to the same hardware is cheaper than two separate lines. Until, of course, the AT string leaked.
It's been done many times before. One example is USRobotics about 10 years ago. The Sportster (low end) and Courier (high end) modems were the same physical product. The couriers simply received an init string somewhere along the production line.
Naturally, USR changed the products once the string leaked out.
It's just not publically announced yet. I sincerely doubt c|net would have published this story, using the words they did, unless they were really, really sure.
I won't believe it until I see an Intel Inside sticker on a Mac. The anti-mac journalists love running articles like this just to get attention every now and then. There's something about this article that doesn't seem right.
It's a big risk to make this switch. Developers need to rewrite their apps again. Some vendors (Quark) took forever to move to X, and that's been within the last 5 years. Apple risks annoying everyone in the process.
Second, I can see sales crashing until the new machines come out. The 68K-PPC transition wasn't easy, and the early PPC machines ran SLOWER than the 68K's they replaced.
Finally, there are a whole bunch of other issues that get in the way - everything from heat/power to Steve receiving the same uh, warm welcome as he did when the MS deal was announced in '96 or so.
Watch the biling carefully. I'm about to cancel my data plan not because I don't use it, but because I've been consistently over billed. Rogers Wireless changed me to a more expensive plan without my authorization, credited my only partially for their mistake, ignored my request to change the plan last month, and basically refuses to discuss it with me (their managers never call back)
Also, watch your usage. The rogers plans are extemely steep if you go over. Going over by one meg can cost more than the difference to the next plan. You need to pick your plan at the start of the month, but get your usage at the end.
That's all part of the radio component. In many cases, you can buy the new version of the radio if you really want to. However, people don't do that as third party stuff is generally better.
If you're talking about integrating just to integrate (iDrive & friends), then it's a different story.
Apple supports the current version (now 10.4) as well as the last major release (10.3.x). 10.3.9 is as high as the 10.3 series will go.
10.3 doesn't get any of the new Tiger toys, but it still gets security updates. If a major hole was found in Safari, I'm sure we would see an upgrade for everyone. Apple realizes that people won't buy Tiger and/or new Macs for a security problem. An unpatched hole would cause more damage to their brand than the cost of developing the fix.
While IE is technically a bundled windows application, it is the source of a lot of security problems. And, since "the web browser is part of the OS" (right microsoft?), not patching the browser is in fact not applying security updates to a currently supported OS. Start the lawyers...
People generally won't spend money for security unless there's something else involved. It also gives the impression of a "We screwed up. Pay us for a fix." What's new in XP that 2K doesn't do? If they haven't upgraded from 2K now, they won't. There are also plenty of machines that are just fine running 2K that won't run XP.
At this point, if Microsoft doesn't do something to address security/spyware/viruses/etc, MS risks losing those people to Macs. Is that worth the cost of not patching 2K?
Also, we're talking about 2k here, not win98. It's typically in a corporate environment with some sort of IT staff. There's probably a reason its on 2K. And, don't forget the 2k servers.
Not to mention that without NAT, I'd be paying my cable company something like $140 a month for extra IP's (plus bandwidth!)
There's also security. Unless I've specifically mapped an incoming port, you won't see my internal machines. At all. IPv6 potentially allows outside traffic to see my internal machines, and my firewall now has to monitor an address block rather than a single address.
What I'd like to see is something where the last ip grouping is is not addressable past your router - like NAT. But, forcing a unique prefix would prevent conflicts when networks merge. I'm specifically using a 172.x.x.x subnet on my home lan simply because VPN tunnelling could really confuse things. (Which 192.168.0.1 do I want? Pick the wrong one and you lose your default route/dns server/etc. Or, you try to use services from the wrong network)
(one important reason being that only one computer behind the firewall can receive connections this way, not multiple
That's a limitation of consumer routers, using the DMZ feature. You can map individual ports to different places on just about any hardware. And, I can't see much of a reason to map all incoming ports to a DMZ, over a few selected ports.
And, as someone pointed out in the last IPv6-related thread, merging the networks of two corporations is a nightmare - they both use the same IP addresses.
Only if you're using statically assigned addresses. Most networks I've seen use small blocks of static addresses (for things like servers and printers) and the rest are on DHCP - either a big open pool, or with a MAC to IP mapping.
The limit is $30,000. If your sales are more than $30,000, then you are required to submit GST once a year/quarter/month (depending on the amount).
There are exceptions, such as that you're not paying GST twice. If I buy inventory, my supplier charges me GST. I charge GST on the full amount, but I submit only the difference.
PST though is a whole other thing. At least in Ontario, you pay PST in full at each level. If you're reselling it, then you need a PST exemption (or vendor permit), and it's only charged at the final sale.
There are a bunch of weird exceptions as well such as an ethernet cable has PST, but a drop running through a building doesn't (it's considered part of the building). Buying the cable to run through a building has PST. Buying the cable to make a cable is double taxed - unless you have a vendor permit. But, if you're mixing cables and drops, you technically need to submit PST for the amount used for drops.
Of course, today I received a nice note from the CRA informing me to pay my GST (which I did last month) on May 1. The letter was dated May 16.
That's another reason why I'm still on a palm III. It just works. It handles email (as long as I sync often), my various log databases (HandDBase) - relational at that, notes, todo, etc.
About the only driving factor is that I would have real time access to my mail (and the subsequent raping by my phone company for data charges), a slightly more modern device, and avoiding bat-belt as I'd be replacing my cell phone. The main reason though is that I'm looking to switch my cell service to one that uses VOIP when available, so I need something that can be a SIP phone.
My company has been pushing Blackberrys (they bought a BES server to go with Exchange... ugh). I just don't see a Blackberry having the same usefulness as a Palm - if I understand correctly it's geared to email, but can't do third party apps the same way Palm does.
Palm: Go back to what worked. Update it, but still keep it simple!
When we launched our current company, I joked that we should also register OurCompanyOne.com, so that we have it in 3 years when we rebrand ourself.
Palm has lost their direction. Make good, simple devices and you'll win. I'm still on my Handspring Visor (basically a Palm III). I'd love to replace it, and I've almost bought a Treo 650 a few times, but I don't think the current devices would work as well.
Re:reason for, reason not for
on
Blank Keyboard
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· Score: 1
aNd I cna typ e300 wrds am inueT!
Re:I applaud Vodafone.
on
Just a Phone?
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· Score: 1
I have a Sony Ericsson T616, which meets most of your list. Good interface, lets me use GPRS into my powerbook (via bluetooth), has an IMAP client, long life (at least, when it was new. A 3 year old battery sucks but still gives me ~2 days), works on a Mac, supports iSync, and if you look around, it's even being bundled for a low cost/free.
About the only thing it doesn't have is a speakerphone, and the headset connector is proprietary, but you can use a bluetooth headset.
Depends on the company. GM Canada effectively forces all computers to run as admin, as their login script tries to patch things whenever GM feels like it. Many of their installers are actually ZIP archives extracted to the proper places.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not free.
Unlike the US, we pay a tax on all blank media. The idea is that it compensates the artist for the copying (how exactly is another question. The group which controls this tax wanted to raise it a few years ago, but didn't actually pay any of it out). The music industry recently tried to also have it cover anything that could potentially store music - not just iPods, but hard drives and media cards.
In Canada, it's currently legal to download music, an extension of the law that you can borrow music and copy it for your own use. As well, we're paying for the ability to do (above). What's illegal is uploading music, or copying your music and giving the copy away. It's already illegal so we don't need any more file sharing laws.
As far as I see it, CRIA wants it both ways. They've tried other US-style tactics, which were all struck down by Canadian courts. They want the income from the blank media tax, but want copying to be illegal. Pick one. We can't be paying a tax to allow an activity which is illegal.
If this passes, I'll be asking for a cheque for the tax I've paid on all the blank media I've bought.
They're not on Rogers. The other carriers are cheaper but don't have the coverage. Now that all 3 cell carriers are part of a phone/cable monopoly (fido = rogers), I don't expect things to change either.
I won't start on my customer service issues here, but I'll say that right now, I'd be happy with 500 minutes without over charges, and some sort of credit if I don't use all my minutes.
What we need is an American carrier and number portability before rates will drop.
Mac OS X has a package system (.pkg) with a gui installer. However, Apple encourages developers to build an app that can just be copied to /Applications, rather than building a package. It's easier for the end user, and easier to keep the related files together - avoiding the "what app installed /foo/bar?" question.
Designing a system to not fail means that it will fail in a way that you didn't plan for.
Twice in the last year, for example, both my primary and backup systems have failed within a week of each other.
It happens. Two thoughts:
1. Is the new system better than the one it replaced, even though it's not as good as it can be if you had waited?
2. Computers are always faster. I bought my powerbook just after it was released, it turned out that my model was replaced only a few months later. The trick is to buy a machine when you need it. If you wait for the next generation, you'll never buy anything.
I'll put it this way. I'm at a point where I'm deciding if I should upgrade my TiBook, or put some money into it.
After today's announcement I'll be sticking with my TiBook for a while. I won't consider buying an Intel mac until the "g2" or "g3" at the earliest.
True, it's not always cheaper but in many cases it is.
What about Federal privacy legislation?
The early 14.4K's did. My sportster was the right speed, but the later version. The instruction file going around the BBS's at the time had a description along the lines of "Upgrade your 14.4K sportster to a courier".
It's cheaper to have one production line and disable the extra features than run two separate lines. Sending an AT command to the same hardware is cheaper than two separate lines. Until, of course, the AT string leaked.
It's been done many times before. One example is USRobotics about 10 years ago. The Sportster (low end) and Courier (high end) modems were the same physical product. The couriers simply received an init string somewhere along the production line.
Naturally, USR changed the products once the string leaked out.
It's just not publically announced yet. I sincerely doubt c|net would have published this story, using the words they did, unless they were really, really sure.
I won't believe it until I see an Intel Inside sticker on a Mac. The anti-mac journalists love running articles like this just to get attention every now and then. There's something about this article that doesn't seem right.
It's a big risk to make this switch. Developers need to rewrite their apps again. Some vendors (Quark) took forever to move to X, and that's been within the last 5 years. Apple risks annoying everyone in the process.
Second, I can see sales crashing until the new machines come out. The 68K-PPC transition wasn't easy, and the early PPC machines ran SLOWER than the 68K's they replaced.
Finally, there are a whole bunch of other issues that get in the way - everything from heat/power to Steve receiving the same uh, warm welcome as he did when the MS deal was announced in '96 or so.
Heat. Quote an Apple engineer: "The Powerbook G5 is the mother of all thermal challenges".
Watch the biling carefully. I'm about to cancel my data plan not because I don't use it, but because I've been consistently over billed. Rogers Wireless changed me to a more expensive plan without my authorization, credited my only partially for their mistake, ignored my request to change the plan last month, and basically refuses to discuss it with me (their managers never call back)
Also, watch your usage. The rogers plans are extemely steep if you go over. Going over by one meg can cost more than the difference to the next plan. You need to pick your plan at the start of the month, but get your usage at the end.
For some reason, I'm picturing a Dilbert cartoon with Wally saying that he can't work because 1's are illegal.
According to Microsoft, IE is integrated into the operating system itself -- it is no longer a standalone application.
As I posted elsewhere...
If 2K is still supported and IE is part of the 2K, how can IE not be updated?
It's either a standalone app or part of the OS. Not whichever is convenient at the time.
add satellite radio, GPS, and MP3 capability
That's all part of the radio component. In many cases, you can buy the new version of the radio if you really want to. However, people don't do that as third party stuff is generally better.
If you're talking about integrating just to integrate (iDrive & friends), then it's a different story.
Apple supports the current version (now 10.4) as well as the last major release (10.3.x). 10.3.9 is as high as the 10.3 series will go.
10.3 doesn't get any of the new Tiger toys, but it still gets security updates. If a major hole was found in Safari, I'm sure we would see an upgrade for everyone. Apple realizes that people won't buy Tiger and/or new Macs for a security problem. An unpatched hole would cause more damage to their brand than the cost of developing the fix.
While IE is technically a bundled windows application, it is the source of a lot of security problems. And, since "the web browser is part of the OS" (right microsoft?), not patching the browser is in fact not applying security updates to a currently supported OS. Start the lawyers...
People generally won't spend money for security unless there's something else involved. It also gives the impression of a "We screwed up. Pay us for a fix." What's new in XP that 2K doesn't do? If they haven't upgraded from 2K now, they won't. There are also plenty of machines that are just fine running 2K that won't run XP.
At this point, if Microsoft doesn't do something to address security/spyware/viruses/etc, MS risks losing those people to Macs. Is that worth the cost of not patching 2K?
Also, we're talking about 2k here, not win98. It's typically in a corporate environment with some sort of IT staff. There's probably a reason its on 2K. And, don't forget the 2k servers.
Not to mention that without NAT, I'd be paying my cable company something like $140 a month for extra IP's (plus bandwidth!)
There's also security. Unless I've specifically mapped an incoming port, you won't see my internal machines. At all. IPv6 potentially allows outside traffic to see my internal machines, and my firewall now has to monitor an address block rather than a single address.
What I'd like to see is something where the last ip grouping is is not addressable past your router - like NAT. But, forcing a unique prefix would prevent conflicts when networks merge. I'm specifically using a 172.x.x.x subnet on my home lan simply because VPN tunnelling could really confuse things. (Which 192.168.0.1 do I want? Pick the wrong one and you lose your default route/dns server/etc. Or, you try to use services from the wrong network)
(one important reason being that only one computer behind the firewall can receive connections this way, not multiple
That's a limitation of consumer routers, using the DMZ feature. You can map individual ports to different places on just about any hardware. And, I can't see much of a reason to map all incoming ports to a DMZ, over a few selected ports.
And, as someone pointed out in the last IPv6-related thread, merging the networks of two corporations is a nightmare - they both use the same IP addresses.
Only if you're using statically assigned addresses. Most networks I've seen use small blocks of static addresses (for things like servers and printers) and the rest are on DHCP - either a big open pool, or with a MAC to IP mapping.
The limit is $30,000. If your sales are more than $30,000, then you are required to submit GST once a year/quarter/month (depending on the amount).
There are exceptions, such as that you're not paying GST twice. If I buy inventory, my supplier charges me GST. I charge GST on the full amount, but I submit only the difference.
PST though is a whole other thing. At least in Ontario, you pay PST in full at each level. If you're reselling it, then you need a PST exemption (or vendor permit), and it's only charged at the final sale.
There are a bunch of weird exceptions as well such as an ethernet cable has PST, but a drop running through a building doesn't (it's considered part of the building). Buying the cable to run through a building has PST. Buying the cable to make a cable is double taxed - unless you have a vendor permit. But, if you're mixing cables and drops, you technically need to submit PST for the amount used for drops.
Of course, today I received a nice note from the CRA informing me to pay my GST (which I did last month) on May 1. The letter was dated May 16.
That's another reason why I'm still on a palm III. It just works.
It handles email (as long as I sync often), my various log databases (HandDBase) - relational at that, notes, todo, etc.
About the only driving factor is that I would have real time access to my mail (and the subsequent raping by my phone company for data charges), a slightly more modern device, and avoiding bat-belt as I'd be replacing my cell phone. The main reason though is that I'm looking to switch my cell service to one that uses VOIP when available, so I need something that can be a SIP phone.
My company has been pushing Blackberrys (they bought a BES server to go with Exchange... ugh). I just don't see a Blackberry having the same usefulness as a Palm - if I understand correctly it's geared to email, but can't do third party apps the same way Palm does.
Palm: Go back to what worked. Update it, but still keep it simple!
When we launched our current company, I joked that we should also register OurCompanyOne.com, so that we have it in 3 years when we rebrand ourself.
Palm has lost their direction. Make good, simple devices and you'll win. I'm still on my Handspring Visor (basically a Palm III). I'd love to replace it, and I've almost bought a Treo 650 a few times, but I don't think the current devices would work as well.
aNd I cna typ e300 wrds am inueT!
I have a Sony Ericsson T616, which meets most of your list.
Good interface, lets me use GPRS into my powerbook (via bluetooth), has an IMAP client, long life (at least, when it was new. A 3 year old battery sucks but still gives me ~2 days), works on a Mac, supports iSync, and if you look around, it's even being bundled for a low cost/free.
About the only thing it doesn't have is a speakerphone, and the headset connector is proprietary, but you can use a bluetooth headset.
Depends on the company. GM Canada effectively forces all computers to run as admin, as their login script tries to patch things whenever GM feels like it. Many of their installers are actually ZIP archives extracted to the proper places.