"Why do people hate AOL? Does anyone have a LEGITIMATE REASON for hating them? And I mean something more important than "I don't like getting those disks in the mail". There are lots of evil entities out there in the tech world. Does AOL really deserve to be place side by side with Microsoft et. al in the Technology Hall of Shame? AOL has been responsible for helping millions of people discover the internet."
-They encourage parents to give up responsibility for their children's safety into the hands of parental controls in software.
-They encourage parents to give up responsibility for helping their children with their education since "homework help is just a breeze on AOL"
-Their business model depends on people no realising that they are out of free hours and are going to be charged unless they perform some frustrating and time-hungry tasks to cancel the service. Essentially, they depend on the users thinking they know the whole story when really, they don't until they are forced to pay more.
-They give a misconception of 'the internet' to new users. Some people think that surfing aol:// addresses means they are on the internet.
-They are an ecological menace. Most of the CDs they send out are trashed. Also, consider the waste put out to make the components of the CDs and electricity expended to make something which just fills our landfills faster.
-They reward ignorance. They make it acceptable for you to know nothing about computers and be happy with it even though you are using them as an integral part of your life. (Please no automobile analogies.)
-The stifle choice. Supposedly part of the big news for AOL 8 is that you can now choose between 8 welcome screens and change the colours of your AOL interface... oooooh....
"Working in Technical support for a government website frequented by technophobes with college aged children, I can't count the times I have had people scared to death because their computer had encountered an illegal operation."
I once worked with this woman with poor vision who was hysterical because something about an "illegal abortion" had appeared on her machine.
She said that she had advised a girl who had made some mistakes on such matters but never was actually involved in such a thing. Only later she realised what it really said.
The Selecting Blendolini Causes Choco-Banana
Shake Hang From the BSOD-on-my-toaster dept issue was a real error in a Microsoft related program, "Someone's in the Kitchen." There used to be a whole technet article describing the crash involving the choco-banana shake recipe, but it was pulled. For reference, check this out: Q157668 Mystery solved.
Now that you mention it, I do remember reading something about the book being delayed because of WWII and that Tolkien originally wrote parts of it on the back of British military regulation papers.
And about the WWII allegory: I am certain that Tolkien always refuted the idea that there was some sort of allegory or symbolism behind LOTR. It's just a book, not Animal Farm.
"No he didn't. Au contraire -- he wrote it as one book and was most miffed that it was published as three separate volumes. That was forced on him by the publishers, who were afraid the public wouldn't go for such a lengthy tome."
I agree that Tolkien said that LOTR is all one book even though it is published as separate volumes.
But I disagree that JRRT was miffed that he was "forced" to publish it as three volumes. RoTK wasn't even complete when the Fellowship was published so the publisher couldn't have forced the breakup.
According to the information in the covers of my copies of the books:
FoTR: First published in 1954
TTT: First published in 1954
RoTK: First published in 1955
"That, and a (rather effective) ploy to get us to spend more money."
Consider that the "normal" FOTR and the "extended" version have mututally exclusive contents. You don't get the theatrical version when you buy the extended one. The special features are different too.
I think that this is quite responsible marketing and production because if you buy both editions, you're not spending money twice on the same thing. Basically they are giving us the best value for our cash.
It depends on the assumption that most movies start with a black screen. Using this it can determine the appropriate keys.
Of course it is probably a better solution to find the appropriate hacked firmware patch for your DVD drive (if it exists) so all regions will be allowed.
"While ogle can ignore the mandatory advertisements (the no-fast-forward sections), the region code is often enforced in the hardware not the software, so using ogle doesn't help circumvent that. (You can change region codes, but the limit of 5 (I think) switches before you are locked out is not under ogle's control.)"
No. Even if you are playing a DVD that has a different region than your hardware, libdvdcss will do a cryptographic analysis which is usually successful and will still be able to play the DVD.
Here are my homebrew instructions on how to turn off the Messaging service that's used to receive the spam on Windows 2000. (Of course you will miss legit messages from your admin if your corporate IT people use that feature.)
1. Log on as administrator or at least with an account that has admin access.
2. Enter control panel
3. Enter "Administrative Tools"
4. Enter "Services"
5. Scroll down and find "Messenger"
6. Right click > properties > startup type > Disabled.
Scroll through the list and see if there's anything else you might want to disable. (You know, like remote registry editing and all that stuff that Microsoft enabled so you wouldn't have to be troubled to do it yourself:-)
This is so much more up close and personal than e-mail spam.
All it will take is a few pr0n campaigns through this thing, and backlash will be quick to follow.
You might be able to increase the intensity and speed of the backlash by sending a pr0n ad to a machine conennected to a WiFi network during a powerpoint presentation to stockholders or upper management. (teehee!)
"I don't know about you, but the last few DVDs I bought have this 5 minute mandatory intro on them that plays before it gets to the main menu. The skip buttons are disabled during this thing, so you have to basically stop the DVD and then press play to get past the damn thing. I'm sure that this will be where trailers and teasers will be placed next."
This is why you set up a linux box with ogle/videolan and use that as your DVD player. No FBI warning garbage, no macrovision, no regions, no disabled buttons, etc. Just the movie.
I read one comment in another thread where the guy was so annoyed that whenever he bought a DVD, he ripped it, removed all the crap, and then reburned it.
"That question is risky from the anti-Microsoft standpoint, because it sets up the MS guy to give a really slick answer. He could say something like "while it would not be strictly beneficial for Microsoft, we care more about internet security and the end of piracy than about our own bottom line. After all, we are the ultimate Good Guys."
I'd avoid setting them up like that."
"Why would they otherwise have both Word and Wordpad;-)"
This is also the reason they shipped solitare and minesweeper.
</joke>
Those were actually shipped when windows first came out because they were 'learn-to-use-the-mouse' tools in disguise. Remember that back then, the mouse was a relatively new thing, especially on the PC.
"It's unlikely to work, of course, due to the huge line between a hardware geek and mainstream user.. but I think it could make some kind of dent. Certainly one that could last until someone is able to bypass/crack/trick Palladium."
Keep in mind that it's not the mainstreamers who drive the high end market. It's the hardcore gamers who want the latest uber-ninja gear and they will know what Palladium is and why they shouldn't buy it.
"This is what I want to know. How does MS plan to get people to buy into this? How are computer manufacturers going to react when they have fewer, more expensive options for building their computers."
Easy: They provide customers with no other choice. Most home user machines today are either using AMD or Intel chips. Microsoft has made deals with both of them involving Palladium. I wonder how much money they accepted for the bribe.
Another dark side of this is that if MSFT is controlling Intel and AMD's offerings, then there is no true competition in the home computer CPU market which will of course kill off innovation and drive prices up.
"More of a basic business question, but didn't anyone learn from Intel's ill-fated processor serial number "feature" in the Pentium III, or the Div-X movie fiasco? Why would consumers want this at all, and why will they choose it over other alternatives?"
Or conversely, "Why does Microsoft believe that Palladium will earn a positive cash flow for the company, satisfy return on investment, etc, in the long run?
Essentially, "what's in it for YOU?" This could reveal some interesting information about their long term strategy and core motives.
"Time to set up a non-profit to pass out chips from foreign countries... or just relabel them as accessibility devices."
I think that the accessibility devices idea has merit. The same strategy is used to sell macrovision removal devices in the north american market without trouble from the mpaa.
"I thought AOL was based on the idea that people need a never-ending supply of drink coasters."
Drink coasters? How un-creative!
I chop up my AOL CDs and use packing tape to create a mosaic on the doors of my wardrobe cabinet! If only I had a digicam I would link to a picture of it for you.
And on that note, my (former) bank once sent me a co-branded AOL cd (with their logo and AOL's logo) and then did a follow-up call a few weeks later asking me about it. I was sure to describe to the girl in great detail why a relationship with AOL dirtied the bank's reputation (this is one of many reasons why they are my former bank). Also, when asked how I used the CD, I described in great detail how I cut it up and used it in my mosaic and she entered it into the records. I wish I could have seen the demographics statistics peoples' faces when they tried to add *that* to a pre-defined category!
One way that many people get AOL for free is that they install one of those thousand hour free CDs and then when the given number of free months has expired, they call up to cancel. Of course the agent tries to convince them to stay on by offering another free month. The user accepts this. The agent gets a monetary bonus for not losing a customer. The customer just lathers, rinses, repeats the next month.
I suspet that the number of free hours given out by AOL accounts for millions of dollars each month in 'lost' revenue.
I agree with your original comments about how AOL has the touchy feely stuff down pat. They have huge customer service departments to answer questions when the like "how do I send a picture through e-mail" and so on. I have worked in small home-based businesses selling custom computers and internet access and frankly, support is the most troublesome part of it because most users just don't get it. Although I eschew AOL internet and pre built PCs (dell, gateway, etc) for myself, I must unfortunately recommend such solutions for clueless users because it's the only way they're going to get support for answering stupid questions because the people who run small businesses that ship better products don't have the time or money of all of that.
Slashdot Mirror
The technology to fool technology tends to always be slightly ahead. Expect WiFi location spoofing to follow.
-They encourage parents to give up responsibility for their children's safety into the hands of parental controls in software.
-They encourage parents to give up responsibility for helping their children with their education since "homework help is just a breeze on AOL"
-Their business model depends on people no realising that they are out of free hours and are going to be charged unless they perform some frustrating and time-hungry tasks to cancel the service. Essentially, they depend on the users thinking they know the whole story when really, they don't until they are forced to pay more.
-They give a misconception of 'the internet' to new users. Some people think that surfing aol:// addresses means they are on the internet.
-They are an ecological menace. Most of the CDs they send out are trashed. Also, consider the waste put out to make the components of the CDs and electricity expended to make something which just fills our landfills faster.
-They reward ignorance. They make it acceptable for you to know nothing about computers and be happy with it even though you are using them as an integral part of your life. (Please no automobile analogies.)
-The stifle choice. Supposedly part of the big news for AOL 8 is that you can now choose between 8 welcome screens and change the colours of your AOL interface ... oooooh ....
Does the fax machine run XP Embedded?
I once worked with this woman with poor vision who was hysterical because something about an "illegal abortion" had appeared on her machine.
She said that she had advised a girl who had made some mistakes on such matters but never was actually involved in such a thing. Only later she realised what it really said.
The Selecting Blendolini Causes Choco-Banana Shake Hang From the BSOD-on-my-toaster dept issue was a real error in a Microsoft related program, "Someone's in the Kitchen." There used to be a whole technet article describing the crash involving the choco-banana shake recipe, but it was pulled. For reference, check this out: Q157668 Mystery solved.
Clippit has performed an illegal operation and will be arrested.
From an old issue of PC Magazine:
Error 23 occured when attempting to report that error 23 occured.
And about the WWII allegory: I am certain that Tolkien always refuted the idea that there was some sort of allegory or symbolism behind LOTR. It's just a book, not Animal Farm.
I agree that Tolkien said that LOTR is all one book even though it is published as separate volumes.
But I disagree that JRRT was miffed that he was "forced" to publish it as three volumes. RoTK wasn't even complete when the Fellowship was published so the publisher couldn't have forced the breakup.
According to the information in the covers of my copies of the books:
FoTR: First published in 1954
TTT: First published in 1954
RoTK: First published in 1955
Consider that the "normal" FOTR and the "extended" version have mututally exclusive contents. You don't get the theatrical version when you buy the extended one. The special features are different too.
I think that this is quite responsible marketing and production because if you buy both editions, you're not spending money twice on the same thing. Basically they are giving us the best value for our cash.
Of course it is probably a better solution to find the appropriate hacked firmware patch for your DVD drive (if it exists) so all regions will be allowed.
No. Even if you are playing a DVD that has a different region than your hardware, libdvdcss will do a cryptographic analysis which is usually successful and will still be able to play the DVD.
I can't even get 0.056 Mbit (i.e. 56K) on a COPPER WIRE between myself and the ISP.
*insert obligatory 3D pr0n reference here*
1. Log on as administrator or at least with an account that has admin access.
2. Enter control panel
3. Enter "Administrative Tools"
4. Enter "Services"
5. Scroll down and find "Messenger"
6. Right click > properties > startup type > Disabled.
Scroll through the list and see if there's anything else you might want to disable. (You know, like remote registry editing and all that stuff that Microsoft enabled so you wouldn't have to be troubled to do it yourself :-)
All it will take is a few pr0n campaigns through this thing, and backlash will be quick to follow.
You might be able to increase the intensity and speed of the backlash by sending a pr0n ad to a machine conennected to a WiFi network during a powerpoint presentation to stockholders or upper management. (teehee!)
It's happened a bunch of times in the past few years.
This is why you set up a linux box with ogle/videolan and use that as your DVD player. No FBI warning garbage, no macrovision, no regions, no disabled buttons, etc. Just the movie.
I read one comment in another thread where the guy was so annoyed that whenever he bought a DVD, he ripped it, removed all the crap, and then reburned it.
You'd make a good polititian :-)
This is also the reason they shipped solitare and minesweeper.
</joke>
Those were actually shipped when windows first came out because they were 'learn-to-use-the-mouse' tools in disguise. Remember that back then, the mouse was a relatively new thing, especially on the PC.
Keep in mind that it's not the mainstreamers who drive the high end market. It's the hardcore gamers who want the latest uber-ninja gear and they will know what Palladium is and why they shouldn't buy it.
Easy: They provide customers with no other choice. Most home user machines today are either using AMD or Intel chips. Microsoft has made deals with both of them involving Palladium. I wonder how much money they accepted for the bribe.
Another dark side of this is that if MSFT is controlling Intel and AMD's offerings, then there is no true competition in the home computer CPU market which will of course kill off innovation and drive prices up.
Or conversely, "Why does Microsoft believe that Palladium will earn a positive cash flow for the company, satisfy return on investment, etc, in the long run?
Essentially, "what's in it for YOU?" This could reveal some interesting information about their long term strategy and core motives.
I think that the accessibility devices idea has merit. The same strategy is used to sell macrovision removal devices in the north american market without trouble from the mpaa.
Drink coasters? How un-creative!
I chop up my AOL CDs and use packing tape to create a mosaic on the doors of my wardrobe cabinet! If only I had a digicam I would link to a picture of it for you.
And on that note, my (former) bank once sent me a co-branded AOL cd (with their logo and AOL's logo) and then did a follow-up call a few weeks later asking me about it. I was sure to describe to the girl in great detail why a relationship with AOL dirtied the bank's reputation (this is one of many reasons why they are my former bank). Also, when asked how I used the CD, I described in great detail how I cut it up and used it in my mosaic and she entered it into the records. I wish I could have seen the demographics statistics peoples' faces when they tried to add *that* to a pre-defined category!
I suspet that the number of free hours given out by AOL accounts for millions of dollars each month in 'lost' revenue.
I agree with your original comments about how AOL has the touchy feely stuff down pat. They have huge customer service departments to answer questions when the like "how do I send a picture through e-mail" and so on. I have worked in small home-based businesses selling custom computers and internet access and frankly, support is the most troublesome part of it because most users just don't get it. Although I eschew AOL internet and pre built PCs (dell, gateway, etc) for myself, I must unfortunately recommend such solutions for clueless users because it's the only way they're going to get support for answering stupid questions because the people who run small businesses that ship better products don't have the time or money of all of that.