This really doesn't seem to be about religion to me.
I have 2 children. I love them dearly, and would never change anything about them. Part of the thrill of parenting, is the gamble about what kind of child you will end up with. To be able to choose the traits of your children, seems to make it all a bit superficial to me. Why not just grow them in a test tube?
Hell, why not just make baby farms as described in the Matrix? If we're going to take the gamble out of genetics, whats left for us?
As far as "Playing god" or whatever name you want to give it, "God" in this instance does not neccesarily refer to any given diety, but simply refers to the unknown force that normally determines the traits of your child.
I believe that there are forces in this world that we do not understand, that we should not understand, and that we should not meddle with because we don't understand them. Whether the decry came from the pope himself, or some guy living on the streets in new york, the message is still the same. By letting people choose their babies traits, we are taking away something that is profound.
When my first child was born, the first thing the nurse said to me was "Her eyes are brown... that never happens". I would not trade that moment for anything in the world.
Now now, I didn't say I *approved* of this approach. I'm simply clarifying the facts for those that seem to think that this (levy/tax) makes all downloading in Canada legal. Which is simply not the case.
The fact that the levy exists means that certain types of normally infringing activities are no longer infringing. (They are considered private copies, personal use only.)
The other side of this issue is the side you are focused on:
The levy is a blanket provision, and does not consider *WHAT* the media is being used for. Thus, if I buy CD's to back up my data files from my computer, or I buy a memory card for my camera, I still pay the levy.
Thus, the levy is sort of bitter-sweet. But authorities/gov't have no way of knowing what your using the media for. And a voluntary levy is not possible, as nobody would actually pay it.
I posted this in reply to somebody else, but am not above regurgitating it here to re-enforce this point:
It's not a tax, its a Levy.
The levy is on certain types of blank recordable media, and is called the "Private Copying Levy". It does not go directly to the RIAA-equivelent. It goes to the Private Copying Collective to be divided up amonst those who *apply* for a piece of it.
This Levy makes certain types of downloading legal, such as downloading directly to recordable media that is covered by the levy.
It does not however make *all* downloading of copyrighted material legal. Nor does it cover anything but music recordings.
The private copying levy also covers things like... borrowing a cd from a friend and making a copy of it for personal use, or borrowing a cd from a library for the same reason.
On the other hand, distributing copyrighted material is still infringing. Posting copyrighted material online, making copies of copyrighted material and giving them away, etc is still infringing actions and can still be prosecuted. And no, it doesn't matter if you did it for profit or not.
The levy is on certain types of blank recordable media, and is called the "Private Copying Levy". It does not go directly to the RIAA-equivelent. It goes to the Private Copying Collective to be divided up amonst those who *apply* for a piece of it.
This Levy makes certain types of downloading legal, such as downloading directly to recordable media that is covered by the levy.
It does not however make *all* downloading of copyrighted material legal. Nor does it cover anything but music recordings.
The private copying levy also covers things like... borrowing a cd from a friend and making a copy of it for personal use, or borrowing a cd from a library for the same reason.
On the other hand, distributing copyrighted material is still infringing. Posting copyrighted material online, making copies of copyrighted material and giving them away, etc is still infringing actions and can still be prosecuted. And no, it doesn't matter if you did it for profit or not.
To be fair? You're making a lot of assumptions about my system.
You seem to assume that my system is an OEM system. It is not. You also seem to assume that my system is some souped up latest and greatest system... again, it is not.
My wifi card is almost 4 years old. I had the same problems getting it to work in Windows 7 as I did in windows XP. Also, the sound drivers provided by my mainboard mfg do not work as advertised.
Now, this is by no means *microsofts* fault, as they do not control 3rd party drivers. But I find it interesting that a system that easily retains over 60% of the market, is no longer fully supported. and the up-and-coming releases of their operating systems have equally frusterating driver issues.
But when I install Linux... It just works. All of it. I didn't even need to install a printer driver. I just plugged it in, and it worked. (Printer sharing on the other hand has been somewhat of a pain.)
The systems all have their +'s and -'s. But when it comes down to it, you have to ask yourself:
On which system are you more likely to get a virus?
On which system are you more likely to have spyware? Malware?
Which system is more likely to get compromised by the next big security threat?
Which system makes up the largest bulk of the massive botnets out there?
When considering it that way... I'd take linux over windows any day.
Interesting you'd bring up what "Just Works" in windows.
My wifi card in my home PC doesn't work in windows out of the box, and doesn't have a readily available XP driver. I had to hunt for a generic driver and jump through hoops to get it to work.
On the other hand, the same wifi card, in the same machine Just Works in Linux. No fuss, no command line, no configuration. Just enter my wep key when prompted.
In windows, my sound card doesn't work *AT ALL*. Can't find a driver. Not even from the mainboard mfg.
On the other hand, the same sound card, in the same machine Just Works in Linux.
Go figure... apparently my system is confused:P
Or maybe, its you that it confused. Linux now supports more hardware natively than any other operating system in existance. And thanks to projects like the Linux Driver Project, that develops drivers for hardware for companies *FOR FREE*, thats unlikely to change.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure windows has a place in this world, but Windows should no longer be allowed to lead the market on the desktop. It's far too dangerous.
Just about everyone that I talk to that has played the Wii absolutely *loved* it, no matter how much they doubted it before hand. Regardless of the WiiMotes issues (I can't play my Wii in mid afternoon... too much sunlight) it *WAS* innovative. You have to give credit to a company that has such high demand for the product that its still selling out almost 2 years after its release.
Can Sony and MS say that? Can they even say that they've made a penny on their systems?
The Wii appeals to almost every age, gender and racial demographic with its variety of fun and easy to play games, and yet has enough mature and challenging games to keep a gamer like me interested. I don't own a PS3 or an xbox360. They don't have the games I want.
Your personal experience aside, let me give you a window into mine:
I have college education. No undergrad, no masters, no university of any kind. I did an accelerated course that crammed a 3 year program into 1 1/2 years.
I have been working in the field for almost 10 years now, am making great money, doing what I love to do, and have never had any regrets.
I personally believe that you should do what makes you happy. If you love the academics of it, go for it, do your masters. But don't do it because you think it'll give you an edge.
In the long run, if you get an edge because of it (maybe 5% of lucky cases) then great, but if you don't (perhaps 95%) of cases, then you'll be left with a whole load of student debt, and a feeling that you've wasted a lot of time and money for no real gain.
Your either extraordinarily ignorant, or your intentionally misinterpreting his words in an attempt to discredit him.
Regardless of which (I suspect the latter), you can't deny the excellent work NYCL has done to expose the RIAA legal team for what it truely is. A machine driven by greed to extort money out of its own customers because its business model is failing in a new world driven by digital culture.
The RIAA had a choice many years ago to embrace the new world. Indeed, there is always a choice. They made the choice to litigate rather than innovate. Thus, they created their own mess by fracturing the file sharing market, and driving people to innovate around their attempts to shut down file-sharing.
The reality is, even without file-sharing technology, the RIAA would still be losing record sales to digital media. If they do not learn to embrace the technology and innovate to save the industry, they will wither and die.
My coding happy place is just that... inside my head. I can code anywhere, anytime. Give me some quiet music and a set of headphones and I can escape all distractions and make the whole world disappear.
My wife hates it when I enter that state because she has to all but hit me to get my attention. A state of concentration that intense is when I do my very best coding. It doesn't matter where I am, as long as I can get into that state.
2. I'm a gamer, and all my games run just fine in Linux.
3. Photoshop works just fine, out of the box, in Linux through WINE if you *really* must have it.
So yeah... all is well for me. I also do video editing and DVD authoring work in Linux, which I find has better tools and better control over the end product than any package I've found for Windows.
Is there a learning curve?
Of course there is. But go visit the Helios project blog and you'll be awakened to a world in which desktop Linux is distributed to underprivileged children who pick it up in a matter of minutes. Keeping in mind that these are children who have never used a computer of *ANY* kind.
If you want Linux adoption, the children is where to target it. Our generation grew up with windows, and a vast many people don't want to let go of the past.
Teach your children Linux, and do the future a favor.
I read TFA after the fact and found out more. Its obvious that the person I replied to neither read TFA nor understood the circumstances in which this happened.
I feel bad for the child. I think the parents got exactly what they deserved.
1. We pay a *levy*, not a tax, on recordable media.
2. This levy does not allow you to distribute your collection online. Distributing copyrighted works online is still infringing activity.
3. The levy *does* cover you borrowing a CD from the library and making a *personal* copy of it to blank media. But, if you are recording the copyrighted work to a media that the levy is not applied to, it is still infringing activity.
4. The Canadian gov't has repeatedly made promises to reform copyright laws and eliminate the private copying levy, so don't get too comfortable with it.
Speaking as a parent myself, and admitedly, not having read TFA...
If the child had previously known issues (of some kind), father should not have left for work without waking up Mother. That's negligence.
Leaving the car keys in a place that the child could obtain them... negligence.
Having the child exposed to GTA, or any other violent video game (regardless of any or no purported effect on the child, I don't care) is negligence. And your argument that it may not have been at home is bunk too. If you know your child has issues already, then you make *sure* that your child is not going to get exposed to anything that could adversely effect that pre-known condition.
Sorry, but this whole story reeks of bad parenting.
Having pretty much lived and breathed both Network admin jobs, programming jobs and QA/Testing jobs for the last... 8 years, I'm inclined to agree with you.
Of late, I've started to become a little dis-illusioned with the whole industry... unfortunately, at this point in my career, I'm finding it difficult to see a path out. All I really know is computers, and although I have keen interests in other areas, I'm finding that other paths would require a large amount of re-education.
I was at a training course, and the instructor was going through the various generations of our times, and was mentioning the fact that GenX'ers (thats me) on *AVERAGE* have 7 different jobs(careers) throughout their lives, as opposed to the past generations which had like... 2-3 jobs. Also, GenX'ers are tending to look for more than just monetary compensation. There has to be something more to the job, something to keep them interested.
I'm finding it harder and harder to stay interested in my job...
I agree. I'm in a situation where I'm using a very readable language (C#) and doing reasonably simple things. When I get into situations where complexity *is* required, there are definitely comments.
I've been programming for almost 15 years and have spent alot of that time very gradually refining my own design principles. Here are my basics:
1. Modular designs. Modular code is generally more maintainable and more scalable. 2. Self-documenting code. If you read my code, you can understand whats going on just by the code. There are very few comments, because very few are needed. 3. Occam's Razor: The simplest solution is often the best/most correct solution. Over-complicating things often leads to maintainability issues later on.
I am currently working on a project that requires me to share code with several other people. None of them have needed much direction when picking up my code and re-using it because I've used sound design principles when writing it. There really is no single answer that handles all situations. I use some more specific principles when doing different types of projects, depending on whether I'm doing Database design, web development, stand-alone applications or complex application systems. System design is very subjective, every person seems to have a different way of doing things. One thing I always ask myself is this: Will I be able to work with this code 6 months from now? If the answer is no... then I have work to do to improve the design.
I used to work for an electronic POS company called Datasym. All of their cash registers can be polled via serial connection, and via a proprietary solution developed by them called PCIRC. Their newest editions (XR-650 and higher) also have ethernet support, and can have a USB stick added for data storage.
The polled data can be used in reporting packages sold by them, *OR* you can do your own software, as their file formats are text readable, and fully documented.
If your american, and you go to a Biglots store, you can see Datasym Registers in actions, as Datasym provides all POS systems for all 1500 Biglots stores.
I mean, in reality, very few of the songs that were written and produced in the 50's get much air time now. And one reason some of those songs make a come-back in Canada, is because new artists are able to take those songs (Now FREE from copyright) and re-invent them.
Michael Jackson celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Thriller album in 2007. How many people out there can say they have listened to even *1* song from that album recently, or heard one on the radio, or on MTV/MuchMusic? Let along actually BUYING the album and listening to the entire thing. How much do you think he makes in royalties on this album each year? I would be *very* surprised if he made more than a 3 digit figure on it last year. (barring the sales from the newly released anniversary edition of Thriller, which was also released with little to no fanfare.)
95 years of copyright is silly. Theres no way to justify it. All it will do is keep original works locked up for so long, that by the time they are free and clear, nobody will care anyways, nobody will even remember them or the artist that made them.
The second part of TFA, about the levy, is as ridiculous as the first. Making people pay for things that they should have the right to do as fair use, is thieving from your customers. You have to pay me for an album... oh, and the MP3 version on your computer, oh and the MP3 version on your iPod, oh and the various copies that you made to make mix albums to listen to in the car... See what I mean?
Canada has a levy system like that, on recordable media (Cassettes, CD's, etc.) called the private copying levy. The general impression of this system is that it should be done away with in light of more flexible fair dealing provisions in the Canada copyright act.
The music industry will keep pushing, but I heard a very interesting thing from an artists mouth... Charlie Major, on CMT, claimed that the only people that will benefit from longer copyrights and more levies are the record producers.
And while he may not be the most popular artist in the world, I tend to agree with him. They aren't doing this for the poor starving artists out there. They are doing this to staunch the bleeding of a dying recording industry. The world is changing, and they are still grasping at the past, their glory days.
The reality is: Pandora's box is open, and the world will never be the same. Either adapt to the new order, or lay down and die.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm... I wonder if you would be as thrilled when the child pops out with Downs or some other genetic disease.
You're not a parent are you?
Damnit... you almost made me spit my salad all over my monitor.
Thats what i get for reading /. while eating lunch....
This really doesn't seem to be about religion to me.
I have 2 children. I love them dearly, and would never change anything about them. Part of the thrill of parenting, is the gamble about what kind of child you will end up with. To be able to choose the traits of your children, seems to make it all a bit superficial to me. Why not just grow them in a test tube?
Hell, why not just make baby farms as described in the Matrix? If we're going to take the gamble out of genetics, whats left for us?
As far as "Playing god" or whatever name you want to give it, "God" in this instance does not neccesarily refer to any given diety, but simply refers to the unknown force that normally determines the traits of your child.
I believe that there are forces in this world that we do not understand, that we should not understand, and that we should not meddle with because we don't understand them. Whether the decry came from the pope himself, or some guy living on the streets in new york, the message is still the same. By letting people choose their babies traits, we are taking away something that is profound.
When my first child was born, the first thing the nurse said to me was "Her eyes are brown... that never happens". I would not trade that moment for anything in the world.
Now now, I didn't say I *approved* of this approach. I'm simply clarifying the facts for those that seem to think that this (levy/tax) makes all downloading in Canada legal. Which is simply not the case.
The fact that the levy exists means that certain types of normally infringing activities are no longer infringing. (They are considered private copies, personal use only.)
The other side of this issue is the side you are focused on:
The levy is a blanket provision, and does not consider *WHAT* the media is being used for. Thus, if I buy CD's to back up my data files from my computer, or I buy a memory card for my camera, I still pay the levy.
Thus, the levy is sort of bitter-sweet. But authorities/gov't have no way of knowing what your using the media for. And a voluntary levy is not possible, as nobody would actually pay it.
I posted this in reply to somebody else, but am not above regurgitating it here to re-enforce this point:
It's not a tax, its a Levy.
The levy is on certain types of blank recordable media, and is called the "Private Copying Levy". It does not go directly to the RIAA-equivelent. It goes to the Private Copying Collective to be divided up amonst those who *apply* for a piece of it.
This Levy makes certain types of downloading legal, such as downloading directly to recordable media that is covered by the levy.
It does not however make *all* downloading of copyrighted material legal. Nor does it cover anything but music recordings.
The private copying levy also covers things like... borrowing a cd from a friend and making a copy of it for personal use, or borrowing a cd from a library for the same reason.
On the other hand, distributing copyrighted material is still infringing. Posting copyrighted material online, making copies of copyrighted material and giving them away, etc is still infringing actions and can still be prosecuted. And no, it doesn't matter if you did it for profit or not.
It's not a tax, its a Levy.
The levy is on certain types of blank recordable media, and is called the "Private Copying Levy". It does not go directly to the RIAA-equivelent. It goes to the Private Copying Collective to be divided up amonst those who *apply* for a piece of it.
This Levy makes certain types of downloading legal, such as downloading directly to recordable media that is covered by the levy.
It does not however make *all* downloading of copyrighted material legal. Nor does it cover anything but music recordings.
The private copying levy also covers things like... borrowing a cd from a friend and making a copy of it for personal use, or borrowing a cd from a library for the same reason.
On the other hand, distributing copyrighted material is still infringing. Posting copyrighted material online, making copies of copyrighted material and giving them away, etc is still infringing actions and can still be prosecuted. And no, it doesn't matter if you did it for profit or not.
To be fair? You're making a lot of assumptions about my system.
You seem to assume that my system is an OEM system. It is not. You also seem to assume that my system is some souped up latest and greatest system... again, it is not.
My wifi card is almost 4 years old. I had the same problems getting it to work in Windows 7 as I did in windows XP. Also, the sound drivers provided by my mainboard mfg do not work as advertised.
Now, this is by no means *microsofts* fault, as they do not control 3rd party drivers. But I find it interesting that a system that easily retains over 60% of the market, is no longer fully supported. and the up-and-coming releases of their operating systems have equally frusterating driver issues.
But when I install Linux... It just works. All of it. I didn't even need to install a printer driver. I just plugged it in, and it worked. (Printer sharing on the other hand has been somewhat of a pain.)
The systems all have their +'s and -'s. But when it comes down to it, you have to ask yourself:
On which system are you more likely to get a virus?
On which system are you more likely to have spyware? Malware?
Which system is more likely to get compromised by the next big security threat?
Which system makes up the largest bulk of the massive botnets out there?
When considering it that way... I'd take linux over windows any day.
Interesting you'd bring up what "Just Works" in windows.
My wifi card in my home PC doesn't work in windows out of the box, and doesn't have a readily available XP driver. I had to hunt for a generic driver and jump through hoops to get it to work.
On the other hand, the same wifi card, in the same machine Just Works in Linux. No fuss, no command line, no configuration. Just enter my wep key when prompted.
In windows, my sound card doesn't work *AT ALL*. Can't find a driver. Not even from the mainboard mfg.
On the other hand, the same sound card, in the same machine Just Works in Linux.
Go figure... apparently my system is confused :P
Or maybe, its you that it confused. Linux now supports more hardware natively than any other operating system in existance. And thanks to projects like the Linux Driver Project, that develops drivers for hardware for companies *FOR FREE*, thats unlikely to change.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure windows has a place in this world, but Windows should no longer be allowed to lead the market on the desktop. It's far too dangerous.
I actually find the opposite is true.
Just about everyone that I talk to that has played the Wii absolutely *loved* it, no matter how much they doubted it before hand. Regardless of the WiiMotes issues (I can't play my Wii in mid afternoon... too much sunlight) it *WAS* innovative. You have to give credit to a company that has such high demand for the product that its still selling out almost 2 years after its release.
Can Sony and MS say that? Can they even say that they've made a penny on their systems?
The Wii appeals to almost every age, gender and racial demographic with its variety of fun and easy to play games, and yet has enough mature and challenging games to keep a gamer like me interested. I don't own a PS3 or an xbox360. They don't have the games I want.
I disagree.
Your personal experience aside, let me give you a window into mine:
I have college education. No undergrad, no masters, no university of any kind. I did an accelerated course that crammed a 3 year program into 1 1/2 years.
I have been working in the field for almost 10 years now, am making great money, doing what I love to do, and have never had any regrets.
I personally believe that you should do what makes you happy. If you love the academics of it, go for it, do your masters. But don't do it because you think it'll give you an edge.
In the long run, if you get an edge because of it (maybe 5% of lucky cases) then great, but if you don't (perhaps 95%) of cases, then you'll be left with a whole load of student debt, and a feeling that you've wasted a lot of time and money for no real gain.
But that's just me 2 cents. :)
Your either extraordinarily ignorant, or your intentionally misinterpreting his words in an attempt to discredit him.
Regardless of which (I suspect the latter), you can't deny the excellent work NYCL has done to expose the RIAA legal team for what it truely is. A machine driven by greed to extort money out of its own customers because its business model is failing in a new world driven by digital culture.
The RIAA had a choice many years ago to embrace the new world. Indeed, there is always a choice. They made the choice to litigate rather than innovate. Thus, they created their own mess by fracturing the file sharing market, and driving people to innovate around their attempts to shut down file-sharing.
The reality is, even without file-sharing technology, the RIAA would still be losing record sales to digital media. If they do not learn to embrace the technology and innovate to save the industry, they will wither and die.
The ball really is in their court now.
My coding happy place is just that... inside my head. I can code anywhere, anytime. Give me some quiet music and a set of headphones and I can escape all distractions and make the whole world disappear.
My wife hates it when I enter that state because she has to all but hit me to get my attention. A state of concentration that intense is when I do my very best coding. It doesn't matter where I am, as long as I can get into that state.
For the record:
1. I'm a desktop linux user of almost 2 years.
2. I'm a gamer, and all my games run just fine in Linux.
3. Photoshop works just fine, out of the box, in Linux through WINE if you *really* must have it.
So yeah... all is well for me. I also do video editing and DVD authoring work in Linux, which I find has better tools and better control over the end product than any package I've found for Windows.
Is there a learning curve?
Of course there is. But go visit the Helios project blog and you'll be awakened to a world in which desktop Linux is distributed to underprivileged children who pick it up in a matter of minutes. Keeping in mind that these are children who have never used a computer of *ANY* kind.
If you want Linux adoption, the children is where to target it. Our generation grew up with windows, and a vast many people don't want to let go of the past.
Teach your children Linux, and do the future a favor.
Agreed. Sad indeed.
I read TFA after the fact and found out more. Its obvious that the person I replied to neither read TFA nor understood the circumstances in which this happened.
I feel bad for the child. I think the parents got exactly what they deserved.
I'm going to raise a red light on this...
1. We pay a *levy*, not a tax, on recordable media.
2. This levy does not allow you to distribute your collection online. Distributing copyrighted works online is still infringing activity.
3. The levy *does* cover you borrowing a CD from the library and making a *personal* copy of it to blank media. But, if you are recording the copyrighted work to a media that the levy is not applied to, it is still infringing activity.
4. The Canadian gov't has repeatedly made promises to reform copyright laws and eliminate the private copying levy, so don't get too comfortable with it.
Speaking as a parent myself, and admitedly, not having read TFA...
If the child had previously known issues (of some kind), father should not have left for work without waking up Mother. That's negligence.
Leaving the car keys in a place that the child could obtain them... negligence.
Having the child exposed to GTA, or any other violent video game (regardless of any or no purported effect on the child, I don't care) is negligence. And your argument that it may not have been at home is bunk too. If you know your child has issues already, then you make *sure* that your child is not going to get exposed to anything that could adversely effect that pre-known condition.
Sorry, but this whole story reeks of bad parenting.
You know, technically *you* didn't solve it. :)
You simply found an application for a pre-made solution. :)
Ya know...
You could always just... drive the speed limit, and render the need for a Radar detector moot.
Just a thought... :)
Why don't we call it... A Comedy of Errors...
And move on with our lives. :)
Welcome our new genetically modified bacterial overlords...
(sorry... I had to...)
Having pretty much lived and breathed both Network admin jobs, programming jobs and QA/Testing jobs for the last... 8 years, I'm inclined to agree with you.
Of late, I've started to become a little dis-illusioned with the whole industry... unfortunately, at this point in my career, I'm finding it difficult to see a path out. All I really know is computers, and although I have keen interests in other areas, I'm finding that other paths would require a large amount of re-education.
I was at a training course, and the instructor was going through the various generations of our times, and was mentioning the fact that GenX'ers (thats me) on *AVERAGE* have 7 different jobs(careers) throughout their lives, as opposed to the past generations which had like... 2-3 jobs. Also, GenX'ers are tending to look for more than just monetary compensation. There has to be something more to the job, something to keep them interested.
I'm finding it harder and harder to stay interested in my job...
I agree. I'm in a situation where I'm using a very readable language (C#) and doing reasonably simple things. When I get into situations where complexity *is* required, there are definitely comments.
:)
I haven't programmed in assembly in years.
I've been programming for almost 15 years and have spent alot of that time very gradually refining my own design principles. Here are my basics:
1. Modular designs. Modular code is generally more maintainable and more scalable.
2. Self-documenting code. If you read my code, you can understand whats going on just by the code. There are very few comments, because very few are needed.
3. Occam's Razor: The simplest solution is often the best/most correct solution. Over-complicating things often leads to maintainability issues later on.
I am currently working on a project that requires me to share code with several other people. None of them have needed much direction when picking up my code and re-using it because I've used sound design principles when writing it.
There really is no single answer that handles all situations. I use some more specific principles when doing different types of projects, depending on whether I'm doing Database design, web development, stand-alone applications or complex application systems.
System design is very subjective, every person seems to have a different way of doing things. One thing I always ask myself is this: Will I be able to work with this code 6 months from now? If the answer is no... then I have work to do to improve the design.
I used to work for an electronic POS company called Datasym. All of their cash registers can be polled via serial connection, and via a proprietary solution developed by them called PCIRC. Their newest editions (XR-650 and higher) also have ethernet support, and can have a USB stick added for data storage.
The polled data can be used in reporting packages sold by them, *OR* you can do your own software, as their file formats are text readable, and fully documented.
If your american, and you go to a Biglots store, you can see Datasym Registers in actions, as Datasym provides all POS systems for all 1500 Biglots stores.
Amen to that!
I mean, in reality, very few of the songs that were written and produced in the 50's get much air time now. And one reason some of those songs make a come-back in Canada, is because new artists are able to take those songs (Now FREE from copyright) and re-invent them.
Michael Jackson celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Thriller album in 2007. How many people out there can say they have listened to even *1* song from that album recently, or heard one on the radio, or on MTV/MuchMusic? Let along actually BUYING the album and listening to the entire thing. How much do you think he makes in royalties on this album each year? I would be *very* surprised if he made more than a 3 digit figure on it last year. (barring the sales from the newly released anniversary edition of Thriller, which was also released with little to no fanfare.)
95 years of copyright is silly. Theres no way to justify it. All it will do is keep original works locked up for so long, that by the time they are free and clear, nobody will care anyways, nobody will even remember them or the artist that made them.
The second part of TFA, about the levy, is as ridiculous as the first. Making people pay for things that they should have the right to do as fair use, is thieving from your customers. You have to pay me for an album... oh, and the MP3 version on your computer, oh and the MP3 version on your iPod, oh and the various copies that you made to make mix albums to listen to in the car... See what I mean?
Canada has a levy system like that, on recordable media (Cassettes, CD's, etc.) called the private copying levy. The general impression of this system is that it should be done away with in light of more flexible fair dealing provisions in the Canada copyright act.
The music industry will keep pushing, but I heard a very interesting thing from an artists mouth... Charlie Major, on CMT, claimed that the only people that will benefit from longer copyrights and more levies are the record producers.
And while he may not be the most popular artist in the world, I tend to agree with him. They aren't doing this for the poor starving artists out there. They are doing this to staunch the bleeding of a dying recording industry. The world is changing, and they are still grasping at the past, their glory days.
The reality is: Pandora's box is open, and the world will never be the same. Either adapt to the new order, or lay down and die.