sorry to nit-pick, but Econ101 lesson:
profit = revenue - expense (advertising is an expense)
the cost to the consumer of CD's and DVD's is a function of what price the market will bear.
This is not an analysis of supply and demand since at this point of history little plastic discs aren't a limited resource.
To buy a DVD off of Amazon costs me $27USD, to buy the same DVD from my local Rogers Video (in Canada) is $27CAD.. Hmm.. Logically the DVD I bought from the US is worth around $40CAD, but you won't see anyone buying a DVD for that locally because gee.. it seems too expensive! I rarely pay more than $22CAD unless it's a really good movie.
IMNSHO They would make more profit if they fired Jack Valenti (big expense) before he pisses off all producers and consumers that his industry relies on.
The only thing CD's have going for them, and why perhaps they maintain a higher price while DVD's seem to go down, is you listen to the same CD many times whereas for DVD's how often do you watch the same movie over and over.
later.....
Becuase now I can return the sh*t music that I too often buy. See... they can't refuse me since the CD says it can't be copied. The music industry will shoot themselves in the foot soon enough. If you can't copy the CD then the music stores have no reason to disallow returns, and I for one will be happy that I can return it citing.. "Gee Mr.... it just doesn't work with my player!"
Of course we all know what they're doing is is bunk and doesn't stop anyone from pirating anything.
Now all we need is some smart yank to start a class action lawsuit against the record company(ies) for intentionally creating flawed CD's citing mental anguish.
It's just too bad that all of this crap.. DRM and the like.. is being pushed by these huge American (dare I say monopolistic) entities that between them can't produce anything worth protecting.
My rant is why the hell should they have the ability to do this? Why are they dictating to the rest of the world what general purpose computer hardware can or can not do.
They want to piggyback a widely used format to ease their own costs but complain when people copy the content.
Why can't they just come up with their own disc format/players that are all closed boxes and that have encrypted output the whole way.. and not have computer compatable hardware at all.. oh but you can still copy from the line in.. tsk tsk tsk.. well you can be sure I'll continue to use linux since it won't bend to the pressure..:P
/snarky aside/
.. maybe MS will lobby to get legislation drafted that makes non DRM OS's illegal and wipe out the linux and the rest of the competition that way.. and hey.. forced upgrade for previous windows versions as well.. win/win
Re:It requires a change in the business model
on
PS2 As PC
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· Score: 1
How does the current model stop working? Do people stop buying games because they can read e-mail and surf the web? Nope. Sorry.
In the future, reality may disagree with me, but the argument you've made is logically insufficient. Sorry:)
For me it would be a great device. (Well I liked the indrema better).. a game console / dvd player that still lets you check some e-mail and surf the web. It's also not going to replace PC's.. but it would help me get the PC out of my living room (where it doesn't belong). All I want is VNC always on in the background and be able to pause the game and switch to my real desktop. Bang!
Now what would that password be? Up Up Square Circle Triangle.. or is that the fatality move?
Please! I consider that it's a sign of mans power over nature to be able to lug 2000lbs of metal and plastic down the road just to get some cheesy poofs!
for sure... and as long as there are microphones and recording devices their initiatives aren't worth the paper they're printed on!
But I don't want all of these un-necessary measures put into my computer (at the hardware level as well) just because some punks copy CD's they buy and share with some people. The recording industry as a whole isn't suffering since (?honest ) people like to buy the CD's and support good artists, even if they originally did download the MP3's
I want my computer to run the s/w that I have. And the more restrictive licensing goofy assed mechanisms there are the less likely I am to buy them.
Why can I not install Office on both my home computers.. I will not buy more than 1 license.. I'll use StarOffice.. Why can I not upgrade my hardware without the consent of MS. Oh that's not an approved drive (0r) I've already installed that sw key onto different hardware and I must be pirating since no-one ever upgrades hardware... I'll use Linux and help make free software better thanks. What do you mean I can't record sound using my SB-Live b/c the sound doesn't have proper digital encoding XYZ... I'll build an ADC and connect it to my parallel port and write my own damn sw.
Yeah well I already use StarOffice and Linux as well:P, but you get my point. Unless they do something truly exotic like requiring me to have an implant to listen to sh*tty music.. rofl.. not likely.:P
can have protected access to their copyrighted files? Is this for any copyrighted material? Does it follow my countries local laws on copyright? Are the business rules field updateable? Can I copyright my own material and have it protected under the same mechanism?
One thing that strikes me is this will be very American Centric, following American rules! What about Germany where (and correct me if I'm wrong) it's allowable to copy stuff. RIAA, MPAA, Micro$oft and Intel are trying to enforce US legal policy on machines / OS's that are international.
Okay fine.. let's pretend it's only for the US.. and how long would that really last! Hmm.. why is it that sometimes American policies end up being more communist than communist countries. Ahh yes... they're doing it for your own good.. Goon on ya mate!
It's a monopoly when the same people that make all the drives sell the licenses to create the media.
I just don't get why anyone cares about kissing the asses of the RIAA and the MPAA. I didn't buy a computer to view DVD's or to listen to MP3's. Let these industries make their own media and don't license any drives that work in general purpose computers.
Is it just me, or are there a lot of stories lately with the theme of...
We'll {Trademark,Patent,etc} it secretly and encourage widespread acceptance, then when the name/usage is commonplace we'll start to enforce our {Trademark,Patent,etc} and take over the world.
Are They All Mad!
<sigh>
I wonder about the legality of all of this. Isn't it the case that if you don't enforce patents or trademarks that they become void. What were they living in their mothers basement all of this time? Participating in cryogenic freezing experiments. Excessing earwax buildup?
I think's it's been painfully obvious that the patent office grants patents, and leaves it up to the court's determine validity. They're proud that they pumped through xxx # of patents. If people didn't submit idiotic patents, then the patent office would make less money.
to not make the same mistakes over again. Sometimes it is good to refactor code, sometimes not. If you do, learn from others mistakes...
If you can see possible errors that could foreseeably happen then yes, cover those conditions, make the code more robust. But I warn you make sure you are preserving all of the functionality and that you're just not introducing more bugs. It is sometimes very difficult to do it right, and you need some really good testing of old vs new code to make sure the new code is doing what the old code did.
And.. don't forget the following .
comment your code
comment any kludgy bits.. be honest
do code reviews !!
1 & 2 are late payoffs, 3 is important to become a better coder. Also, code reviews help it so that everyone starts to code the same way (visually) which helps a lot with comprehension.
(One of the reasons I changed to my current employer is that they are really cool about writing good, solid code. We also have a fairly good code review process in place as well and I'm better off for it.)
For me, one of the greatest accomplishments is to take code and be able to add functionality without breaking other, older code. Stealth kung fu ninja coding...:-)
While you're at it.. Read Code Complete by Steve McConnel... a great book that still has a lot of useful knowledge.
You buy it and you can do with it as you please. It probably voids any warranty, but so does 'chipping' your VW Jetta. Same goes for a 'user install' of hardware on your store bought machine. The list goes on...
IMHO it is oftentimes the most versatile products out there that have the most popularity and shelf life out there. This applies to videogames as well as hard goods.
Re:Family values are inverse of technological valu
on
Trigger Happy
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· Score: 1
Probably because using the computer is (usually) a solitary endeavor, and in most houses there is only one computer. The parents are thinking they want their kids do something with other people and interact. It's too bad that interacting means come sit your fat ass down and watch tv. (Reminds me of Al Bundy)
Instead, how about doing something even mildly athletic sometime.
Or... buy a couple of computers and network em together.
C'mon Son.... stop harassing Jenny with rockets. Grab the railgun and help me frag your mother. She's kicking my ass over here.
Slashdot Mirror
sorry to nit-pick, but Econ101 lesson:
.. Hmm .. Logically the DVD I bought from the US is worth around $40CAD, but you won't see anyone buying a DVD for that locally because gee .. it seems too expensive! I rarely pay more than $22CAD unless it's a really good movie.
profit = revenue - expense
(advertising is an expense)
the cost to the consumer of CD's and DVD's is a function of what price the market will bear.
This is not an analysis of supply and demand since at this point of history little plastic discs aren't a limited resource.
To buy a DVD off of Amazon costs me $27USD, to buy the same DVD from my local Rogers Video (in Canada) is $27CAD
IMNSHO They would make more profit if they fired Jack Valenti (big expense) before he pisses off all producers and consumers that his industry relies on.
The only thing CD's have going for them, and why perhaps they maintain a higher price while DVD's seem to go down, is you listen to the same CD many times whereas for DVD's how often do you watch the same movie over and over.
later.....
Becuase now I can return the sh*t music that I too often buy. See ... they can't refuse me since the CD says it can't be copied. The music industry will shoot themselves in the foot soon enough. If you can't copy the CD then the music stores have no reason to disallow returns, and I for one will be happy that I can return it citing .. "Gee Mr. ... it just doesn't work with my player!"
Of course we all know what they're doing is is bunk and doesn't stop anyone from pirating anything.
Now all we need is some smart yank to start a class action lawsuit against the record company(ies) for intentionally creating flawed CD's citing mental anguish.
It's just too bad that all of this crap .. DRM and the like .. is being pushed by these huge American (dare I say monopolistic) entities that between them can't produce anything worth protecting.
.. and not have computer compatable hardware at all .. oh but you can still copy from the line in .. tsk tsk tsk .. well you can be sure I'll continue to use linux since it won't bend to the pressure .. :P
.. and hey .. forced upgrade for previous windows versions as well .. win/win
My rant is why the hell should they have the ability to do this? Why are they dictating to the rest of the world what general purpose computer hardware can or can not do.
They want to piggyback a widely used format to ease their own costs but complain when people copy the content.
Why can't they just come up with their own disc format/players that are all closed boxes and that have encrypted output the whole way
/snarky aside/
.. maybe MS will lobby to get legislation drafted that makes non DRM OS's illegal and wipe out the linux and the rest of the competition that way
How does the current model stop working? Do people stop buying games because they can read e-mail and surf the web? Nope. Sorry.
:)
.. a game console / dvd player that still lets you check some e-mail and surf the web. It's also not going to replace PC's .. but it would help me get the PC out of my living room (where it doesn't belong). All I want is VNC always on in the background and be able to pause the game and switch to my real desktop. Bang!
.. or is that the fatality move?
In the future, reality may disagree with me, but the argument you've made is logically insufficient. Sorry
For me it would be a great device. (Well I liked the indrema better)
Now what would that password be? Up Up Square Circle Triangle
Please! I consider that it's a sign of mans power over nature to be able to lug 2000lbs of metal and plastic down the road just to get some cheesy poofs!
:)
for sure ... and as long as there are microphones and recording devices their initiatives aren't worth the paper they're printed on!
.. I will not buy more than 1 license .. I'll use StarOffice .. ... I'll use Linux and help make free software better thanks. ... I'll build an ADC and connect it to my parallel port and write my own damn sw.
:P, but you get my point. Unless they do something truly exotic like requiring me to have an implant to listen to sh*tty music .. rofl .. not likely. :P
...
But I don't want all of these un-necessary measures put into my computer (at the hardware level as well) just because some punks copy CD's they buy and share with some people. The recording industry as a whole isn't suffering since (?honest ) people like to buy the CD's and support good artists, even if they originally did download the MP3's
I want my computer to run the s/w that I have. And the more restrictive licensing goofy assed mechanisms there are the less likely I am to buy them.
Why can I not install Office on both my home computers
Why can I not upgrade my hardware without the consent of MS. Oh that's not an approved drive (0r) I've already installed that sw key onto different hardware and I must be pirating since no-one ever upgrades hardware
What do you mean I can't record sound using my SB-Live b/c the sound doesn't have proper digital encoding XYZ
Yeah well I already use StarOffice and Linux as well
cheers
can have protected access to their copyrighted files? Is this for any copyrighted material? Does it follow my countries local laws on copyright? Are the business rules field updateable? Can I copyright my own material and have it protected under the same mechanism?
.. let's pretend it's only for the US .. and how long would that really last! Hmm .. why is it that sometimes American policies end up being more communist than communist countries. Ahh yes ... they're doing it for your own good .. Goon on ya mate!
One thing that strikes me is this will be very American Centric, following American rules! What about Germany where (and correct me if I'm wrong) it's allowable to copy stuff. RIAA, MPAA, Micro$oft and Intel are trying to enforce US legal policy on machines / OS's that are international.
Okay fine
It's a monopoly when the same people that make all the drives sell the licenses to create the media.
I just don't get why anyone cares about kissing the asses of the RIAA and the MPAA. I didn't buy a computer to view DVD's or to listen to MP3's. Let these industries make their own media and don't license any drives that work in general purpose computers.
Is it just me, or are there a lot of stories lately with the theme of ...
We'll {Trademark,Patent,etc} it secretly and encourage widespread acceptance, then when the name/usage is commonplace we'll start to enforce our {Trademark,Patent,etc} and take over the world.
Are They All Mad!
<sigh>
I wonder about the legality of all of this. Isn't it the case that if you don't enforce patents or trademarks that they become void. What were they living in their mothers basement all of this time? Participating in cryogenic freezing experiments. Excessing earwax buildup?
I think's it's been painfully obvious that the patent office grants patents, and leaves it up to the court's determine validity. They're proud that they pumped through xxx # of patents. If people didn't submit idiotic patents, then the patent office would make less money.
I could go on, but it's all been said before
If you can see possible errors that could foreseeably happen then yes, cover those conditions, make the code more robust. But I warn you make sure you are preserving all of the functionality and that you're just not introducing more bugs. It is sometimes very difficult to do it right, and you need some really good testing of old vs new code to make sure the new code is doing what the old code did.
And
1 & 2 are late payoffs, 3 is important to become a better coder. Also, code reviews help it so that everyone starts to code the same way (visually) which helps a lot with comprehension.
(One of the reasons I changed to my current employer is that they are really cool about writing good, solid code. We also have a fairly good code review process in place as well and I'm better off for it.)
For me, one of the greatest accomplishments is to take code and be able to add functionality without breaking other, older code. Stealth kung fu ninja coding
While you're at it
total flamebait...
...
You buy it and you can do with it as you please. It probably voids any warranty, but so does 'chipping' your VW Jetta. Same goes for a 'user install' of hardware on your store bought machine. The list goes on
IMHO it is oftentimes the most versatile products out there that have the most popularity and shelf life out there. This applies to videogames as well as hard goods.
Instead, how about doing something even mildly athletic sometime.
Or