> Rosen: (to herself: heh, this one works every > time.. well except at Oxford Union.) So, who here > downloads and burns music? > > Congress: (silence. they look at each other and > shrug.)
This would be more funny if the sergeant of the US senate hadn't had to shut down the Senate's P2P network. Our senators had been engaging in too much illegal (and insecure) file sharing in violation of the copyright laws they themselves wrote!
During hearings on the Hollings bill, at least two pirated movies were shown. One was a Sony movie pirated by a Disney employee and shown by the president of Disney. The other was pirated by a US Senator.
Now if the MPAA's, RIAA's, and Microsoft's congresscritters would take but a moment to consider how the Hollings bill would impact their own file sharing habits, they wouldn't pass it. Of course if they were honest and really cared about what was best for our country and its future, they'd never consider such a nightmare in the first place!
Yes, I know Microsoft is against the Holling's bill. Officially. But when he first proposed it last year, Microsoft took out a patent that makes them the one to benefit the most (100% government enforced monopoly) from it passing.
"All our tomorrows, Great Sun, by the Light, are very forgotten.
The Light dies. We pray and it sleeps." "Oh Peace Oh Light Return" Japan's national song of mourning from "Gojira", 1954.
> I seem to remember a time when IBM went chalking > the streets with Peace, Love, and Linux phrases > and logos....
That may not have been legal either, but at least it was better intentioned. The hearts, peace signs and penguins were supposed to vanish by themselves with the next rain (alas, that did not happen, but they tried).
Microsoft is plastering plastic signs of some size (12 to 20 inches) on walls and pavements. Even if they are easy to remove, that is still a lot of (non-biodegradable?) plastic littering the city. I'd get them for being a bunch of litterbugs.;)
Today's weather for New York: a stiff tail wind as an angry Moth goddess blows the pretenders on their skates right out of town.;)
(Don't worry, with those plastic wings and skates, it won't take much of a tail wind at all. Good New Yorkers should enjoy a refreshing breeze.)
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996). On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki"). OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
> It's arguably a noble notion, donating your time > to those who have less. But how many of these > have-not people and groups are in countries with > backward or malevolent political and economic > systems? Why should we all join a project to help > [INSERT DICTATORIAL REGIME HERE]?
Those dictatorships succeed by keeping their people poor and ignorant. A child with a computer and internet access can be exposed to new ideas and learn skills that can get them better jobs than their parents. Eventually the people become less poor and less ignorant and kick the nasty old dictators out of there.
> I'd much rather give 5 USD to a local charity or > even a street person, than to donate time to > helping [INSERT PUBLIC "SERVICE" GROUP HERE] in > another country. Where's the benefit in that, > compared to helping out with local problems?
Giving to a local charity is good, and you should help your less fortunate neighbors. But $5 USD, alone, is a drop in the bucket even for local problems. Regardless of whether the problem is local or in the third world, the better solution is always one that builds a brighter future where people can become proud and independent, rather than one that just fills today's hunger (or tries to fill it, only to have the grain carted off by the local bully).
> Or is this another one of those Soviet-era > things - "at least everyone is equally shabby" ?
Yuck! That's a disgusting philosophy. I prefer peace and happiness myself.;)
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity." Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961)
> The rest looks into Windows alternatives as well > as moving everything over to Linux.;)
Some (not all) of the Office alternatives (for the benefit of the 40% that are looking for alternatives):
Windows: Word Perfect, Smart Suite, Star Office
Mac OS X: Apple Works, Think Free, Open Office Beta (I *think* it still requires an X Server), MS Office X (slightly less evil at a higher price) (Jaguar is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, but we do need better alternative office suite support.)
Linux: Star Office/Open Office, KOffice, loads of other software I'm sure the Linux users will be glad to fill us in about;)
*BSD: not personally sure, but probably runs a lot that Linux runs.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn! See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millennium") for details.
> In the past, MS Office was the cash cow at > Microsoft, but the market for office packages is > rather saturated... companies and governments are > looking for cheaper alternatives etc. Not much > room to grow.
How quickly you all forget. Office 11 is to be on the subscription plan. Microsoft said so long ago, and Licensing 6 makes it reality.
> Now they can afford playing the good guys by > opening up their file formats, since they got > new markets to capture... mobile phones, > handheld computers, home entertainment etc.
Now they have new markets to subsidize. They need their cash cows more than ever. This Christmas season could be the demise of the X-Box, long before it is ever paid off.
Of course the customers mostly saw Licensing 6 for what it was and two thirds of them refused to be exhorted of "unearned profits" on a regular basis.
That's the ironic part about thousand year kingdoms: when they barely last a day.;)
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium." Io: "What does that mean?" Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla." "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
> I want an outcry here but I don't see it. Is it > because software not being open source does not > matter to the average user or is it because people > are too ignorant to care? It is funny to see an > outcry when a company tries to stop actual > cheating which spoils the game for all, instead of > putting energy where it matters.
This is not just a little utility for sending a MAC address. It is a browser (based on Internet Explorer: grand champion of security holes), a chat program, a client for their gaming system, etc. It has access to the machine's MAC, its web cache, its web history, etc. We have their word that it is not spyware. Do you honestly trust some internet company to be telling the truth about piracy issues in this day and age? Especially when they are giving away the program and the gaming memberships? If the program were open source (impossible because of the IE componenents) we could tell for sure.
The program imposes two further restrictions:
1) If you want your money's worth, you are pretty much restricted to Windows. Yes, they have clients for Mac and Linux, but at a decreased experience. Granted Linux does not have that much in the way of commercial gaming (TransGaming, please fix), but the Mac does. Heck the makers of Everquest have even been mumbling something about a Mac version.
2) The MAC feature attempts to glue the account to a single machine. Say you are at your friend's house. Your friend has a completely legal setup, no warez or anything. You still can't log into your account and play because the MAC address is different. You could use your friend's account, but if you cheated, they wouldn't be able to use their account anymore (without changing their MAC or buying a new card).
Personally I prefer offline (especially console) gaming. I pay a lot for a game, and if I want to cheat, or access all the characters and features I paid for, I can. Besides, nothing online beats the cameraderie of having a real friend right there with you, laughing at all the silly stuff.:)
"Godzilla and Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch! Hit! Hit! Hit! We die if they stop fighting for us." Jet Jaguar Song, "Godzilla vs. Megalon"
> Maybe that is why Microsoft's business model, as > repulsive as it may be to some, is much more > successful than Apple's?
Naw, Apple has a heroic wonder-working goddess and the god of the atom on their side. That makes for a lot of resurrections and rescues.
Microsoft mostly has the god of the atom POed at them because they were mean to his buddy Apple, and SQL Server misplaced his sacred nuclear materials.
Apple can also count Godzilla and Mothra as their biggest switchers.
Microsoft has a stock photo as their only switcher. Rumor has it a stock pot will be next.;)
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn! See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millennium") for details.
> there's a definite cause-and-effect relationship > between the ease of file sharing/distribution and > the xxAA's actions.
Yes, let us take a moment to weep for the pirates that enslave the artists in work-for-hire contracts, and take their copyrights so they can profit from their ill gotten booty again and again. The poor old things have gotten shanghai'ed by their customers who break their copyrights by sharing the music with others for no profit. Boo-hoo.
Please! P2P is a convenient scapegoat, and the greedy media sharks know it. It is a competitor that they want to destroy. P2P competes with the big labels in two ways:
1) Promotion. Some of the indies have spoken out to confirm it. They actually profit from P2P because it promotes their work.
2) Distribution. P2P is an efficient distribution network. Used legally, it can get demos out to a wide audience. Used in combination with existing internet shareware sales structures and things like Amazon ZShops, even a small indie (student with basement studio) could easily distribute demo mp3s and sell CDs.
> Ignoring the fact that people who have illegally > acquired/distributed software have largely > contributed to the problem we are now facing > from the music/movie industries won't make that > fact go away.
Nope, the real problem is a bunch of greedy pirate media sharks. Mothra dealt with that problem 41 years ago by trouncing evacuated areas of Newkirk City (Hollywood) until they freed and returned her little artists to her ("Mothra" 1961). These days she has gotten a lot sneakier and made friends with Apple ("Mothra" 1996, "Mothra 2" 1997), who has pledged to democratize the tools of the music and movie industries.
The way to make that problem go away for good is to replace the greedy sharks with indie artists and small business studios. Then the rights of the artists will be preserved, and the public will have a wide and plentiful variety of inexpensive music. (Until then, grab a pair of rocks, and beat out: "Strangers, strangers, let them go!";)
Fame might still be possible, but it will be a rare and deserved crown granted by the real public, and not a tinsel crown bestowed by some music exec with a tin ear.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961).
> I dare you to take your greenish preachings among > the people who lost their houses due to forest > fires.
I have every compassion for the poor people who have lost homes, etc., due to this summer's fires. However, I highly doubt massive mud slides and a new dust bowl crisis would be very helpful to them either, and that is what you get if you just start shaving the hills down to bare dirt.
Forests need fires as part of their life cycle. But there is no reason that wise management couldn't save people's homes and allow the forests to do their thing. Something as simple as a fire break around most towns would do the job.
I know there are wacked out environmentalists who forget human compassion and wisdom in their enthusiasm for the Earth. I am not one of them. We need to find a way to protect the Earth and provide for the needs of people too.
Clearcutting is one example of this. Lumber industries have little wood rushes, and like gold rushes, when the timber runs out, so do the jobs. Wise use of the resource would be to set up tree farms. That way, the environment for animals doesn't disappear, the forest provides oxygen and prevents erosion, and the people of logging communities have steady jobs that provide a future for their children and their communities.
"What do you think Mothra would do?" - Moll, "Mosura" 1996
> Now we need to start comparing mac users to terrorists?
Don't worry. Godzilla is headed over there and he'll check them out. If they are being that mean to Mac lovers; well, he has big feet and knows how to use them. If he's in a good mood, he'll just let them off with a PC splitting roar.;)
Godzilla: Apple's biggest fan since 1993!
"Your way of thinking is completely different from mine!" Shinoda, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
> Kinda ironic, that I have to not only register, > but to also insure my POS car!
You can kill somebody with that car, you know. And I doubt you need a background check to get one.
> Where as after, merely, a background check, no > tests etc. needed, I can walk away with a > potentially lethal weapon!! Scary!
After paying (they are expensive), a background check, filling out of forms, and waiting, you get a gun.
Let's look at some of the things you can just walk out of a store with that can kill people:
Bow and arrows: archery has been used for warfare for millenia.
Utility knife, aka boxcutter: instrumental in a recent famous terrorist attack.
Kitchen knife: obvious.
Axe or chainsaw: obvious.
USB (or other) cord: strangling.
A few scraps of leather from a craft store, and some rocks you pick up: make a sling. It worked for David, and people these days are much smaller.
There are lots more examples. This list is not to give anyone illegal ideas, just to show how easily unregistered weapons are available. Unless you want to support registration of mice, leather scraps, axes, etc.; you are not going to have a name to put to every murder weapon. Deal with it.
> While some moron out there in NRA country > Virginia/DC is busy target practicing on REAL > people
I highly doubt the NRA in any way supports the use of guns in serial killing. They do support proper training so you do not cause a fatal accident while exercising your constitutional rights.
Note: I am not a gun owner nor a member of the NRA. My dad was both. But then he also was a sergeant in the army during and after WWII, and a big collector of war stuff, including historical rifles.
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity." Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961)
> Just like how the US clearcut vast forests for the > lumber and turned millions of square miles of > diverse swampland into flat farmland, but we're > now trying to stop Brazil from doing the same for > their individual economic gains.
Make that clearcuts and turns. It is still going on today. Didn't you hear that our fearless President's excellent plan to prevent forest fires is to let the logging companies into the national forests to give them a "trim" (cut them all down)? As for the wetlands, I don't see them surviving the West Nile virus hysteria.
But that's nothing to worry about. Our glorious president (being fitted for his halo even as we speak) has championed the great Yucca Mountain Project. Basically, we take a bigger amount of nuclear waste than the largest Godzilla (77,000 tons vs. 66,000 tons), and stuff it all into a sacred mountain we don't even own, a hundred miles from a major city, in an unstable, earthquake prone area. And we hope nothing bad happens in the next 10,000 years (worse case scenario has the thing making life on this planet impossible). I just hope the gods to whom the mountain is sacred and Godzilla, a Shinto deity in a rubber suit, shake that mountain until they shake some sense into somebody.
If you want an example of a country that wisely manages its resources and takes good care of the environment, the USA under the Bush administration is not the place to look, I am very sad to say.:(
Sonora:"New Godzilla reading. He's moving inward toward Tokai." Shinoda: "The nuclear plants, I knew it. Sonora: "Afraid so." Yuki: "Well, that's just lovely. Another Chernobyl." "Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
How do you plan on handling the possibility that Joe User will think his Palladium machine is broken (won't play many of his favorite files, typing in his driver's license number doesn't help)?
and
Do you think the PC manufacturers are up to handling all the returns of the "defective" PCs?
> then one could assume that there will be no > choice.
As long as the Hollings bill is not passed, there will be a choice:
Apple!
The five silent years (12/14/96-12/14/01) of Apple's rebirth and healing are over. The scorched and dying little sapling has grown into a mighty tree that has weathered the storms of our times. This tree can shelter us all.
On December 3rd, 2001, in a two page ad in Time magazine, Apple declared war on Microsoft and its Windows monopoly. At the 2002 Grammy awards, Steve Jobs spoke out against DRM.
Over the last few years, Apple has been hard at work to democratize the tools of the music and movie industries. iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio, QuickTime (and its streaming server), etc. are some of the fruits of its labors. Expect the fruits of Apple's recent shopping trip to follow. The pundits and analysts are wrong, though. These tools are *not* for Hollywood and the big labels. They are for the artists, students, small businesses. Apple is returning the power to create to the people, where it has always belonged!
(To Linux Programmers: This is not a private party. Feel free to make many open source media creation tools for Linux. Your book store, if it is any good, should have many books by now on Apple's tools, so you can see how such programs do their thing.)
DRM is a bad patch to piracy. And piracy was never the real threat to the media sharks. The real threat stands revealed: Apple! Every iMovie posted to an online contest, every indie movie (such as "Shanghai Ghetto" made with Final Cut Pro on a Power Mac) that makes it into the theatres, and every song recorded in a basement studio is a death blow to the media sharks and their monopoly on content creation.
Palladium, DRM, the Hollings bill: these are the nightmares that could destroy our future. Apple's dream is a far better future. A bright future when we make our own content, and share it as our hearts desire.
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996). On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki"). OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
Are there any internet stations that currently play all non-RIAA (shark-free) music that we can listen to and support?
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
Gee, I wonder if Caroline Woodham, the model in the picture, knows she switched to XP or that she is now a Microsoft editor.
Whether she does or not, it looks like Microsoft just pulled the page (or it got slashdotted). It seems they can no longer find it.
I guess Caroline Woodham (or her make believe twin) just got "fired". Or maybe her PC self destructed. Anyway, it has got to be one of the shortest Microsoft careers ever.
I feel sorry for the model in the picture, though. She signed a release that people could use the photo in general artwork, not that someone can make up stories about her personally. The price of a 72 dpi picture (assuming someone didn't just take it off their web site and cut off the top part with the light table and the company name) just doesn't cover something like that.
As for a company that feels it needs to hire fictional clip art switchers/editors, that's pretty sad. At least Apple uses (and hopefully pays) real people.
My favorite switchers tale is still the 1993 "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II". Man, when he switches, he switches big time. Just look at all them Macs.;)
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer G Countdown: 15 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
HP forced Microsoft to back down on their DRM stance. Sony offers a competive product that does *not* include DRM. HP felt they could not compete if they were crippled.
Now if we could only get Apple, Sony and HP to go to Washington DC and tell the media sharks' pet congress critters what to do with their stupid DRM legislation, the good guys would win a big one.
"Lightning shines on wavey beach, and all clouds are made right:
Happiness Appears!" From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> There are no women gamers, and anyone who tells > you otherwise is a liar. They don't exist. In the > '80s there was one, but she died.
Sorry, but I'm still alive. I started on an old pre-Atari console in the 1970's. I've since played games on the following mainframes, consoles, micro and personal computers:
Honeywell mainframe (StarTrek, with printer terminals) IBM 370 mainframe (StarTrek, with new fangled CRT terminals) Timex Sinclair 1000 doorstop Commodore 64 PC from XT to Pentiums Genesis (& CD & 3DX) GameGear Nintendo 64 Dreamcast Playstation Palm III Handspring Visor Platinum Macintosh (OS 9 and OS X) Playstation 2 Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Game Boy Advance GameCube
I own or owned all the machines above except the two mainframes; those were at college.
My current favorites are Twisted Metal Black (PS 2), Tony Hawk 3 (PS 2), Sonic 2 Adventures Battle (GC), and Star Fox (GC). I am (extremely) eagerly awaiting the arrival of "Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee" for the GameCube, and "Godzilla Domination" for the GameBoy Advance.
Most of you guys don't have a clue about what you are talking about. But you don't let that stop you from eagerly pontificating about what we girls (or my case, women) like or don't like in games.
Hint: women have different interests, in games as in other things. Personally, I love the 3D games with worlds to explore and stuff to do. I also like to fight and smash stuff.;)
And no, I'm not going to go for a Tomb Raider testing job, because the job is in the UK, and I am in the US. Besides, they would have to do a lot of work to upgrade the graphics to modern levels. Star Fox has fur, even in game play. Fur is one of the hardest things to do in 3D. Before I played the game for the first time I would have said it was impossible for them to do fur on a console. Obviously, I was wrong. But, hey, I am impressed.
"His power is unequalled.
His battles are legendary.
His return is near..." "Godzilla 2000" trailer. G Countdown: 18 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
The babelfish translation wasn't (does it ever?;) rendering proper English word order (prepositions after nouns, etc.). It may take me many hours to translate something that big from Japanese, but at least I end up with proper English grammar and proper word order.;)
Oh, well. At least babelfish saves us the time of translating stuff. We should be grateful.
Besides being a cool device, that site looks like a cool place to practice my Japanese translation skills. Or will be when I get done with www.godzilla.co.jp and the "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All Out Attack" soundtrack booklet.;)
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer G Countdown: 18 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
> Like the first speaker says....the entertainment > industry has used their current business model for > many years....and it has been VERY good to them. > They won't give it up easily. But the big players > will push this on people and hope it works.
The old models won't work anymore, that's the problem. We are no longer in a golden age of prosperity where greedy companies can continue to milk their customers and discard them.
> I sure hope Apple can resist the pressure to get > on the DRM bandwagon.
Apple's only hope of long term survival lies in taking out the sharks before they can make DRM mandatory. Apple will do this by democratizing the tools used to create content.
One of the best examples of this that I have seen recently appeared in today's Apple enews. It is a feature length documentary film called "Shanghai Ghetto" that has been playing in some New York and LA theatres. The page at Apple's site describing how it was made is http://www.apple.com/creative/videophoto/shanghai/.
The interesting thing is that the movie was made by two people, using an Apple Power Mac, on a shoestring budget. Granted, you will not find all their expertise and hard work in the Final Cut Pro box (not to mention their sneaking into China with a digital video camera). But Apple has made it possible for just two people to make a real movie and put it in some theatres. Add the other tools that Apple has since bought and plans to democratize, plus the falling prices of the major 3D tools, and movie making suddenly falls into the range of a reasonably funded small business.
The question then becomes, who wants those sharks with their DRM and bad old business models based on excessive greed?
More importantly, who needs them?
Old business models can and will be replaced, if they are no longer viable. Their time is coming to an end. One fine day the market which can no longer bear them, will give them the thumping on the head they so richly deserve.
Resist the pressure?!? Ha! Apple and its blue eyed forever friend will be there to laugh when the sharks come tumbling down.;)
"Lightning shines on wavey beach, and all clouds are made right:
Happiness Appears!" From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> As for me, I'm all against the idea of DRM, but if > it comes, I'm not going to be dressing up (down?) > in woad and screaming, "They'll never take mah > freedoooooooooooom!"
Scream now, avoid the rush!;)
In the 1960's, a giant Moth screamed loud and long: the great media sharks of the 60's came tumbling down, replaced by studios run by the artists.
At the Grammys, Steve Jobs screamed (politely), but the idiot sharks didn't listen very well. So he snatched their favorite media creation tools and ran off laughing. He wants to make it so anyone can master a recording, make a movie, or have their own TV station.
Recently, some very insightful congresscritters stood up and screamed against the likes of Holling's bill. "People have rights!", they cried, and introduced bills of their own.
HP screamed bloody murder at Microsoft. Their DRM in the Media PCs would keep HP from competing with DRM free Sony (miracles never cease when Mothra is about). The mighty Microsoft caved Tuesday, and came up with a clumsy compromise.
See, screaming works! Keep it up!
"Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
Mothra in a video game? Actually, two video games. (www.godzillaoncube.com)
> And at the same time, Apple implements a form of > DRM by crippling the iPod - you can copy songs > onto it, but you can't copy them off. I'm an Apple > fan, but this kind of BS undermines my faith in > them.
The iPod does *not* have Digital Rights Management (restrictions management / rights manglement)! What the iPod has is very weak copy protection (its a FireWire hard drive, with a lot of third party apps enabling you to do what you want with it), and a sticker that says "Don't steal music." The sticker is really the important part, because Jobs believes that piracy is a behavioural problem.
DRM is a different animal altogether. It maintains license records on what you are allowed to view/listen to. If you try to play a file whose license has expired, it will not let you (Microsoft's implementation will happily go out and buy you a license).
DRM is a nasty beast, with dire implications for your fair use rights, privacy, and the security of your credit cards (in the case of Microsoft's version that spends your money for you, bugs in which might expose your credit card number or charge too much to it).
The weak copy protection on the iPod is a logical extension of its use, easy to work around for fair use, and the bare minimum Apple needed to avoid having the record labels blast them for enabling piracy. It would be nice if it wasn't there.
Really though, do you see keeping 20 gig of music files on every Mac you own?
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996). On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki"). OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
> People like you who badmouth private enterprise > can me sued or convicted (hopefully both) under > certain statutes.
Wow, really? Just like all my favorite 60's Mothra heroes! Those nasty greedy sharks were always threatening to sue or report them for "interfering with private enterprise". Of course, the good reporters were just objecting to the sharks using people as slaves (the truth).
> The Declarations of Lincoln and Jefferson are > just that, declarations of their opinions.
Nope. The Gettysburg Address was a president, in an official capacity, praising the deeds of soldiers who had died "that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." The Declaration of Independence was the first document that stated what the American Revolution was all about, and was signed by representatives of each colony which would later become one of the original states.
> Ideas that don't work are dismissed and their > sympathisers can be called before a > congressional hearing and charged with being > unAmerican.
Well then, arrest me for being unAmerican. I believe in those bad old unworking ideals in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights! I also have enough sense to bring my flag in out of the rain. Heck, I even know all four verses of the National Anthem.;b
> The reversal of the tradition of requiring both > parties to have comparable risk has led to many > frivilous lawsuits.
Which any judge with half a brain throws out.
> Every foreign country are laughing at us
A constitutional representative form of government means we care about the constitution and the people, not who laughs at us.
> Classes are supposed to let people know what > their place in society is. The reason why we > have so a lazy, incompetant, workforce is > because they do not know their place. If they > know that they can not hope to achieve any more > than what they have then maybe they won't be so > cocky and dismiss their jobs as being menial.
If it were not for the "cockiness" of certain individuals, a number of large corporations (such as Apple) would not exist today. That is something called the "American dream".
On the otherhand, all jobs are important, even that of a laborer. After all, without dock workers, a good chunk of the economy comes to a screaching halt.
> The reason why we don't have world class (pun > intended) academic achievement is because > everyone is at garenteed food and shelter.
I'm sure the jobless, the homeless, and the hungry will be most happy to hear that. Not everyone who wants to work can get a job. Those laid off due to no fault of their own can still loose their homes and have no money to feed their families.
> And whose fault is it to put so much money into > risky ventures. People should accept loss and > not cry to the government for reparations. Only > a fool would put their life's savings in one > kind of investment.
Newsflash: Most retirement programs are invested in money market funds that are invested in the stock market. Joe doesn't choose exactly where the money goes. Most of these 'ventures' are huge established corporations that have failed due to the criminal actions of the people running them.
> Just because something is not in the constition > doesn't mean that it has no basis.
Well, when you are talking about a "right" to do something that is against the law (such as hacking), you better have some reference in the Constitution that contradicts the law.
> It's funny how leftists like you would refer to > the Constitution only when it suits you.
No, what is funny is that you think believing in "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is leftist.
> The established norm is that corporations are > more deserving of favoritism because they fund > and sustain the nation, period. Civilians don't > have the power and therefore should deserve less > attention.
Favoritism, power, and attention: are you sure the corporations aren't just jealous because citizens are teacher's pet?;)
BTW, it is "citizen", not "civilian". Unless American corporations all joined the army and I wasn't informed?
"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise." Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", 1964
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Dr. Awktagon wrote:
> Rosen: (to herself: heh, this one works every
> time.. well except at Oxford Union.) So, who here
> downloads and burns music?
>
> Congress: (silence. they look at each other and
> shrug.)
This would be more funny if the sergeant of the US senate hadn't had to shut down the Senate's P2P network. Our senators had been engaging in too much illegal (and insecure) file sharing in violation of the copyright laws they themselves wrote!
During hearings on the Hollings bill, at least two pirated movies were shown. One was a Sony movie pirated by a Disney employee and shown by the president of Disney. The other was pirated by a US Senator.
Now if the MPAA's, RIAA's, and Microsoft's congresscritters would take but a moment to consider how the Hollings bill would impact their own file sharing habits, they wouldn't pass it. Of course if they were honest and really cared about what was best for our country and its future, they'd never consider such a nightmare in the first place!
Yes, I know Microsoft is against the Holling's bill. Officially. But when he first proposed it last year, Microsoft took out a patent that makes them the one to benefit the most (100% government enforced monopoly) from it passing.
"All our tomorrows, Great Sun, by the Light, are very forgotten.
The Light dies. We pray and it sleeps."
"Oh Peace Oh Light Return" Japan's national song of mourning from "Gojira", 1954.
scorp1us wrote:
;)
;)
> I seem to remember a time when IBM went chalking
> the streets with Peace, Love, and Linux phrases
> and logos....
That may not have been legal either, but at least it was better intentioned. The hearts, peace signs and penguins were supposed to vanish by themselves with the next rain (alas, that did not happen, but they tried).
Microsoft is plastering plastic signs of some size (12 to 20 inches) on walls and pavements. Even if they are easy to remove, that is still a lot of (non-biodegradable?) plastic littering the city. I'd get them for being a bunch of litterbugs.
Today's weather for New York: a stiff tail wind as an angry Moth goddess blows the pretenders on their skates right out of town.
(Don't worry, with those plastic wings and skates, it won't take much of a tail wind at all. Good New Yorkers should enjoy a refreshing breeze.)
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996).
On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki").
OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
Gothmolly wrote:
;)
> It's arguably a noble notion, donating your time
> to those who have less. But how many of these
> have-not people and groups are in countries with
> backward or malevolent political and economic
> systems? Why should we all join a project to help
> [INSERT DICTATORIAL REGIME HERE]?
Those dictatorships succeed by keeping their people poor and ignorant. A child with a computer and internet access can be exposed to new ideas and learn skills that can get them better jobs than their parents. Eventually the people become less poor and less ignorant and kick the nasty old dictators out of there.
> I'd much rather give 5 USD to a local charity or
> even a street person, than to donate time to
> helping [INSERT PUBLIC "SERVICE" GROUP HERE] in
> another country. Where's the benefit in that,
> compared to helping out with local problems?
Giving to a local charity is good, and you should help your less fortunate neighbors. But $5 USD, alone, is a drop in the bucket even for local problems. Regardless of whether the problem is local or in the third world, the better solution is always one that builds a brighter future where people can become proud and independent, rather than one that just fills today's hunger (or tries to fill it, only to have the grain carted off by the local bully).
> Or is this another one of those Soviet-era
> things - "at least everyone is equally shabby" ?
Yuck! That's a disgusting philosophy. I prefer peace and happiness myself.
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity."
Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961)
Cheese Cracker wrote:
;)
;)
> The rest looks into Windows alternatives as well
> as moving everything over to Linux.
Some (not all) of the Office alternatives (for the benefit of the 40% that are looking for alternatives):
Windows: Word Perfect, Smart Suite, Star Office
Mac OS X: Apple Works, Think Free, Open Office Beta (I *think* it still requires an X Server), MS Office X (slightly less evil at a higher price)
(Jaguar is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, but we do need better alternative office suite support.)
Linux: Star Office/Open Office, KOffice, loads of other software I'm sure the Linux users will be glad to fill us in about
*BSD: not personally sure, but probably runs a lot that Linux runs.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millennium") for details.
Cheese Cracker wrote:
;)
> In the past, MS Office was the cash cow at
> Microsoft, but the market for office packages is
> rather saturated... companies and governments are
> looking for cheaper alternatives etc. Not much
> room to grow.
How quickly you all forget. Office 11 is to be on the subscription plan. Microsoft said so long ago, and Licensing 6 makes it reality.
> Now they can afford playing the good guys by
> opening up their file formats, since they got
> new markets to capture... mobile phones,
> handheld computers, home entertainment etc.
Now they have new markets to subsidize. They need their cash cows more than ever. This Christmas season could be the demise of the X-Box, long before it is ever paid off.
Of course the customers mostly saw Licensing 6 for what it was and two thirds of them refused to be exhorted of "unearned profits" on a regular basis.
That's the ironic part about thousand year kingdoms: when they barely last a day.
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium."
Io: "What does that mean?"
Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
e8johan wrote:
:)
> I want an outcry here but I don't see it. Is it
> because software not being open source does not
> matter to the average user or is it because people
> are too ignorant to care? It is funny to see an
> outcry when a company tries to stop actual
> cheating which spoils the game for all, instead of
> putting energy where it matters.
This is not just a little utility for sending a MAC address. It is a browser (based on Internet Explorer: grand champion of security holes), a chat program, a client for their gaming system, etc. It has access to the machine's MAC, its web cache, its web history, etc. We have their word that it is not spyware. Do you honestly trust some internet company to be telling the truth about piracy issues in this day and age? Especially when they are giving away the program and the gaming memberships? If the program were open source (impossible because of the IE componenents) we could tell for sure.
The program imposes two further restrictions:
1) If you want your money's worth, you are pretty much restricted to Windows. Yes, they have clients for Mac and Linux, but at a decreased experience. Granted Linux does not have that much in the way of commercial gaming (TransGaming, please fix), but the Mac does. Heck the makers of Everquest have even been mumbling something about a Mac version.
2) The MAC feature attempts to glue the account to a single machine. Say you are at your friend's house. Your friend has a completely legal setup, no warez or anything. You still can't log into your account and play because the MAC address is different. You could use your friend's account, but if you cheated, they wouldn't be able to use their account anymore (without changing their MAC or buying a new card).
Personally I prefer offline (especially console) gaming. I pay a lot for a game, and if I want to cheat, or access all the characters and features I paid for, I can. Besides, nothing online beats the cameraderie of having a real friend right there with you, laughing at all the silly stuff.
"Godzilla and Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch! Hit! Hit! Hit!
We die if they stop fighting for us."
Jet Jaguar Song, "Godzilla vs. Megalon"
EvilAlien wrote:
;)
> Maybe that is why Microsoft's business model, as
> repulsive as it may be to some, is much more
> successful than Apple's?
Naw, Apple has a heroic wonder-working goddess and the god of the atom on their side. That makes for a lot of resurrections and rescues.
Microsoft mostly has the god of the atom POed at them because they were mean to his buddy Apple, and SQL Server misplaced his sacred nuclear materials.
Apple can also count Godzilla and Mothra as their biggest switchers.
Microsoft has a stock photo as their only switcher. Rumor has it a stock pot will be next.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millennium") for details.
goldspider writes:
;)
> there's a definite cause-and-effect relationship
> between the ease of file sharing/distribution and
> the xxAA's actions.
Yes, let us take a moment to weep for the pirates that enslave the artists in work-for-hire contracts, and take their copyrights so they can profit from their ill gotten booty again and again. The poor old things have gotten shanghai'ed by their customers who break their copyrights by sharing the music with others for no profit. Boo-hoo.
Please! P2P is a convenient scapegoat, and the greedy media sharks know it. It is a competitor that they want to destroy. P2P competes with the big labels in two ways:
1) Promotion. Some of the indies have spoken out to confirm it. They actually profit from P2P because it promotes their work.
2) Distribution. P2P is an efficient distribution network. Used legally, it can get demos out to a wide audience. Used in combination with existing internet shareware sales structures and things like Amazon ZShops, even a small indie (student with basement studio) could easily distribute demo mp3s and sell CDs.
> Ignoring the fact that people who have illegally
> acquired/distributed software have largely
> contributed to the problem we are now facing
> from the music/movie industries won't make that
> fact go away.
Nope, the real problem is a bunch of greedy pirate media sharks. Mothra dealt with that problem 41 years ago by trouncing evacuated areas of Newkirk City (Hollywood) until they freed and returned her little artists to her ("Mothra" 1961). These days she has gotten a lot sneakier and made friends with Apple ("Mothra" 1996, "Mothra 2" 1997), who has pledged to democratize the tools of the music and movie industries.
The way to make that problem go away for good is to replace the greedy sharks with indie artists and small business studios. Then the rights of the artists will be preserved, and the public will have a wide and plentiful variety of inexpensive music. (Until then, grab a pair of rocks, and beat out: "Strangers, strangers, let them go!"
Fame might still be possible, but it will be a rare and deserved crown granted by the real public, and not a tinsel crown bestowed by some music exec with a tin ear.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961).
An AC wrote:
> I dare you to take your greenish preachings among
> the people who lost their houses due to forest
> fires.
I have every compassion for the poor people who have lost homes, etc., due to this summer's fires. However, I highly doubt massive mud slides and a new dust bowl crisis would be very helpful to them either, and that is what you get if you just start shaving the hills down to bare dirt.
Forests need fires as part of their life cycle. But there is no reason that wise management couldn't save people's homes and allow the forests to do their thing. Something as simple as a fire break around most towns would do the job.
I know there are wacked out environmentalists who forget human compassion and wisdom in their enthusiasm for the Earth. I am not one of them. We need to find a way to protect the Earth and provide for the needs of people too.
Clearcutting is one example of this. Lumber industries have little wood rushes, and like gold rushes, when the timber runs out, so do the jobs. Wise use of the resource would be to set up tree farms. That way, the environment for animals doesn't disappear, the forest provides oxygen and prevents erosion, and the people of logging communities have steady jobs that provide a future for their children and their communities.
"What do you think Mothra would do?" - Moll, "Mosura" 1996
BitGeek wrote:
;)
> Now we need to start comparing mac users to terrorists?
Don't worry. Godzilla is headed over there and he'll check them out. If they are being that mean to Mac lovers; well, he has big feet and knows how to use them. If he's in a good mood, he'll just let them off with a PC splitting roar.
Godzilla: Apple's biggest fan since 1993!
"Your way of thinking is completely different from mine!"
Shinoda, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
zoobee wrote:
> Kinda ironic, that I have to not only register,
> but to also insure my POS car!
You can kill somebody with that car, you know. And I doubt you need a background check to get one.
> Where as after, merely, a background check, no
> tests etc. needed, I can walk away with a
> potentially lethal weapon!! Scary!
After paying (they are expensive), a background check, filling out of forms, and waiting, you get a gun.
Let's look at some of the things you can just walk out of a store with that can kill people:
Bow and arrows: archery has been used for warfare for millenia.
Utility knife, aka boxcutter: instrumental in a recent famous terrorist attack.
Kitchen knife: obvious.
Axe or chainsaw: obvious.
USB (or other) cord: strangling.
A few scraps of leather from a craft store, and some rocks you pick up: make a sling. It worked for David, and people these days are much smaller.
There are lots more examples. This list is not to give anyone illegal ideas, just to show how easily unregistered weapons are available. Unless you want to support registration of mice, leather scraps, axes, etc.; you are not going to have a name to put to every murder weapon. Deal with it.
> While some moron out there in NRA country
> Virginia/DC is busy target practicing on REAL
> people
I highly doubt the NRA in any way supports the use of guns in serial killing. They do support proper training so you do not cause a fatal accident while exercising your constitutional rights.
Note: I am not a gun owner nor a member of the NRA. My dad was both. But then he also was a sergeant in the army during and after WWII, and a big collector of war stuff, including historical rifles.
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity."
Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961)
shoppa wrote:
:(
> Just like how the US clearcut vast forests for the
> lumber and turned millions of square miles of
> diverse swampland into flat farmland, but we're
> now trying to stop Brazil from doing the same for
> their individual economic gains.
Make that clearcuts and turns. It is still going on today. Didn't you hear that our fearless President's excellent plan to prevent forest fires is to let the logging companies into the national forests to give them a "trim" (cut them all down)? As for the wetlands, I don't see them surviving the West Nile virus hysteria.
But that's nothing to worry about. Our glorious president (being fitted for his halo even as we speak) has championed the great Yucca Mountain Project. Basically, we take a bigger amount of nuclear waste than the largest Godzilla (77,000 tons vs. 66,000 tons), and stuff it all into a sacred mountain we don't even own, a hundred miles from a major city, in an unstable, earthquake prone area. And we hope nothing bad happens in the next 10,000 years (worse case scenario has the thing making life on this planet impossible). I just hope the gods to whom the mountain is sacred and Godzilla, a Shinto deity in a rubber suit, shake that mountain until they shake some sense into somebody.
If you want an example of a country that wisely manages its resources and takes good care of the environment, the USA under the Bush administration is not the place to look, I am very sad to say.
Sonora:"New Godzilla reading. He's moving inward toward Tokai."
Shinoda: "The nuclear plants, I knew it.
Sonora: "Afraid so."
Yuki: "Well, that's just lovely. Another Chernobyl."
"Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
Search google for 'Tokai criticality 1999'.
How do you plan on handling the possibility that Joe User will think his Palladium machine is broken (won't play many of his favorite files, typing in his driver's license number doesn't help)?
and
Do you think the PC manufacturers are up to handling all the returns of the "defective" PCs?
An AC wrote:
> then one could assume that there will be no
> choice.
As long as the Hollings bill is not passed, there will be a choice:
Apple!
The five silent years (12/14/96-12/14/01) of Apple's rebirth and healing are over. The scorched and dying little sapling has grown into a mighty tree that has weathered the storms of our times. This tree can shelter us all.
On December 3rd, 2001, in a two page ad in Time magazine, Apple declared war on Microsoft and its Windows monopoly. At the 2002 Grammy awards, Steve Jobs spoke out against DRM.
Over the last few years, Apple has been hard at work to democratize the tools of the music and movie industries. iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio, QuickTime (and its streaming server), etc. are some of the fruits of its labors. Expect the fruits of Apple's recent shopping trip to follow. The pundits and analysts are wrong, though. These tools are *not* for Hollywood and the big labels. They are for the artists, students, small businesses. Apple is returning the power to create to the people, where it has always belonged!
(To Linux Programmers: This is not a private party. Feel free to make many open source media creation tools for Linux. Your book store, if it is any good, should have many books by now on Apple's tools, so you can see how such programs do their thing.)
DRM is a bad patch to piracy. And piracy was never the real threat to the media sharks. The real threat stands revealed: Apple! Every iMovie posted to an online contest, every indie movie (such as "Shanghai Ghetto" made with Final Cut Pro on a Power Mac) that makes it into the theatres, and every song recorded in a basement studio is a death blow to the media sharks and their monopoly on content creation.
Palladium, DRM, the Hollings bill: these are the nightmares that could destroy our future. Apple's dream is a far better future. A bright future when we make our own content, and share it as our hearts desire.
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996).
On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki").
OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
Are there any internet stations that currently play all non-RIAA (shark-free) music that we can listen to and support?
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
Gee, I wonder if Caroline Woodham, the model in the picture, knows she switched to XP or that she is now a Microsoft editor.
;)
Whether she does or not, it looks like Microsoft just pulled the page (or it got slashdotted). It seems they can no longer find it.
I guess Caroline Woodham (or her make believe twin) just got "fired". Or maybe her PC self destructed. Anyway, it has got to be one of the shortest Microsoft careers ever.
I feel sorry for the model in the picture, though. She signed a release that people could use the photo in general artwork, not that someone can make up stories about her personally. The price of a 72 dpi picture (assuming someone didn't just take it off their web site and cut off the top part with the light table and the company name) just doesn't cover something like that.
As for a company that feels it needs to hire fictional clip art switchers/editors, that's pretty sad. At least Apple uses (and hopefully pays) real people.
My favorite switchers tale is still the 1993 "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II". Man, when he switches, he switches big time. Just look at all them Macs.
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer
G Countdown: 15 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
An AC wrote:
> Hey now, Apple is just as happy to steal from
> other people (ever heard of Xerox Park?) as other
> people are happy to steal from Apple.
Yawn. This has been answered too many times. Please search Slashdot comments for
apple licenses "xerox park"
and you will have your reply (in there somewhere).
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer
G Countdown: 15 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
Billly Gates wrote:
/ 17 52228&mode=flat&tid=109
> I already got modded down as a troll for
> mentioning this but just a month ago I saw this
> link [slashdot.org] about these crippled boxen.
I've got good news. According to this story:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-961376.html
referred to here on Slashdot:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/09
HP forced Microsoft to back down on their DRM stance. Sony offers a competive product that does *not* include DRM. HP felt they could not compete if they were crippled.
Now if we could only get Apple, Sony and HP to go to Washington DC and tell the media sharks' pet congress critters what to do with their stupid DRM legislation, the good guys would win a big one.
"Lightning shines on wavey beach, and all clouds are made right:
Happiness Appears!"
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
G Countdown: 16 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
schlach quoted (from Gamespot):
;)
> There are no women gamers, and anyone who tells
> you otherwise is a liar. They don't exist. In the
> '80s there was one, but she died.
Sorry, but I'm still alive. I started on an old pre-Atari console in the 1970's. I've since played games on the following mainframes, consoles, micro and personal computers:
Honeywell mainframe (StarTrek, with printer terminals)
IBM 370 mainframe (StarTrek, with new fangled CRT terminals)
Timex Sinclair 1000 doorstop
Commodore 64
PC from XT to Pentiums
Genesis (& CD & 3DX)
GameGear
Nintendo 64
Dreamcast
Playstation
Palm III
Handspring Visor Platinum
Macintosh (OS 9 and OS X)
Playstation 2
Sharp Zaurus SL-5500
Game Boy Advance
GameCube
I own or owned all the machines above except the two mainframes; those were at college.
My current favorites are Twisted Metal Black (PS 2), Tony Hawk 3 (PS 2), Sonic 2 Adventures Battle (GC), and Star Fox (GC). I am (extremely) eagerly awaiting the arrival of "Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee" for the GameCube, and "Godzilla Domination" for the GameBoy Advance.
Most of you guys don't have a clue about what you are talking about. But you don't let that stop you from eagerly pontificating about what we girls (or my case, women) like or don't like in games.
Hint: women have different interests, in games as in other things. Personally, I love the 3D games with worlds to explore and stuff to do. I also like to fight and smash stuff.
And no, I'm not going to go for a Tomb Raider testing job, because the job is in the UK, and I am in the US. Besides, they would have to do a lot of work to upgrade the graphics to modern levels. Star Fox has fur, even in game play. Fur is one of the hardest things to do in 3D. Before I played the game for the first time I would have said it was impossible for them to do fur on a console. Obviously, I was wrong. But, hey, I am impressed.
"His power is unequalled.
His battles are legendary.
His return is near..."
"Godzilla 2000" trailer.
G Countdown: 18 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
StefMeister wrote:
:-)
;) rendering proper English word order (prepositions after nouns, etc.). It may take me many hours to translate something that big from Japanese, but at least I end up with proper English grammar and proper word order. ;)
;)
> This still seems Japanese to me
Don't you mean:
This still Japanese me to seems?
The babelfish translation wasn't (does it ever?
Oh, well. At least babelfish saves us the time of translating stuff. We should be grateful.
Besides being a cool device, that site looks like a cool place to practice my Japanese translation skills. Or will be when I get done with www.godzilla.co.jp and the "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All Out Attack" soundtrack booklet.
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer
G Countdown: 18 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
Here's another example, a computer science student / musician / web designer who has his very own professional home recording studio:
/ uc cs/
:(
http://www.apple.com/education/hed/macsinaction
Sounds like he is having way more fun than I did as a computer science major.
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer
G Countdown: 19 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
markclong wrote:
/ .
;)
> Like the first speaker says....the entertainment
> industry has used their current business model for
> many years....and it has been VERY good to them.
> They won't give it up easily. But the big players
> will push this on people and hope it works.
The old models won't work anymore, that's the problem. We are no longer in a golden age of prosperity where greedy companies can continue to milk their customers and discard them.
> I sure hope Apple can resist the pressure to get
> on the DRM bandwagon.
Apple's only hope of long term survival lies in taking out the sharks before they can make DRM mandatory. Apple will do this by democratizing the tools used to create content.
One of the best examples of this that I have seen recently appeared in today's Apple enews. It is a feature length documentary film called "Shanghai Ghetto" that has been playing in some New York and LA theatres. The page at Apple's site describing how it was made is http://www.apple.com/creative/videophoto/shanghai
The interesting thing is that the movie was made by two people, using an Apple Power Mac, on a shoestring budget. Granted, you will not find all their expertise and hard work in the Final Cut Pro box (not to mention their sneaking into China with a digital video camera). But Apple has made it possible for just two people to make a real movie and put it in some theatres. Add the other tools that Apple has since bought and plans to democratize, plus the falling prices of the major 3D tools, and movie making suddenly falls into the range of a reasonably funded small business.
The question then becomes, who wants those sharks with their DRM and bad old business models based on excessive greed?
More importantly, who needs them?
Old business models can and will be replaced, if they are no longer viable. Their time is coming to an end. One fine day the market which can no longer bear them, will give them the thumping on the head they so richly deserve.
Resist the pressure?!? Ha! Apple and its blue eyed forever friend will be there to laugh when the sharks come tumbling down.
"Lightning shines on wavey beach, and all clouds are made right:
Happiness Appears!"
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
An AC wrote:
;)
> As for me, I'm all against the idea of DRM, but if
> it comes, I'm not going to be dressing up (down?)
> in woad and screaming, "They'll never take mah
> freedoooooooooooom!"
Scream now, avoid the rush!
In the 1960's, a giant Moth screamed loud and long: the great media sharks of the 60's came tumbling down, replaced by studios run by the artists.
At the Grammys, Steve Jobs screamed (politely), but the idiot sharks didn't listen very well. So he snatched their favorite media creation tools and ran off laughing. He wants to make it so anyone can master a recording, make a movie, or have their own TV station.
Recently, some very insightful congresscritters stood up and screamed against the likes of Holling's bill. "People have rights!", they cried, and introduced bills of their own.
HP screamed bloody murder at Microsoft. Their DRM in the Media PCs would keep HP from competing with DRM free Sony (miracles never cease when Mothra is about). The mighty Microsoft caved Tuesday, and came up with a clumsy compromise.
See, screaming works! Keep it up!
"Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
Mothra in a video game? Actually, two video games. (www.godzillaoncube.com)
seanadams.com wrote:
> And at the same time, Apple implements a form of
> DRM by crippling the iPod - you can copy songs
> onto it, but you can't copy them off. I'm an Apple
> fan, but this kind of BS undermines my faith in
> them.
The iPod does *not* have Digital Rights Management (restrictions management / rights manglement)! What the iPod has is very weak copy protection (its a FireWire hard drive, with a lot of third party apps enabling you to do what you want with it), and a sticker that says "Don't steal music." The sticker is really the important part, because Jobs believes that piracy is a behavioural problem.
DRM is a different animal altogether. It maintains license records on what you are allowed to view/listen to. If you try to play a file whose license has expired, it will not let you (Microsoft's implementation will happily go out and buy you a license).
DRM is a nasty beast, with dire implications for your fair use rights, privacy, and the security of your credit cards (in the case of Microsoft's version that spends your money for you, bugs in which might expose your credit card number or charge too much to it).
The weak copy protection on the iPod is a logical extension of its use, easy to work around for fair use, and the bare minimum Apple needed to avoid having the record labels blast them for enabling piracy. It would be nice if it wasn't there.
Really though, do you see keeping 20 gig of music files on every Mac you own?
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996).
On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki").
OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
G Countdown: 19 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
Ann Coulter wrote:
;b
;)
> People like you who badmouth private enterprise
> can me sued or convicted (hopefully both) under
> certain statutes.
Wow, really? Just like all my favorite 60's Mothra heroes! Those nasty greedy sharks were always threatening to sue or report them for "interfering with private enterprise". Of course, the good reporters were just objecting to the sharks using people as slaves (the truth).
> The Declarations of Lincoln and Jefferson are
> just that, declarations of their opinions.
Nope. The Gettysburg Address was a president, in an official capacity, praising the deeds of soldiers who had died "that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." The Declaration of Independence was the first document that stated what the American Revolution was all about, and was signed by representatives of each colony which would later become one of the original states.
> Ideas that don't work are dismissed and their
> sympathisers can be called before a
> congressional hearing and charged with being
> unAmerican.
Well then, arrest me for being unAmerican. I believe in those bad old unworking ideals in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights! I also have enough sense to bring my flag in out of the rain. Heck, I even know all four verses of the National Anthem.
> The reversal of the tradition of requiring both
> parties to have comparable risk has led to many
> frivilous lawsuits.
Which any judge with half a brain throws out.
> Every foreign country are laughing at us
A constitutional representative form of government means we care about the constitution and the people, not who laughs at us.
> Classes are supposed to let people know what
> their place in society is. The reason why we
> have so a lazy, incompetant, workforce is
> because they do not know their place. If they
> know that they can not hope to achieve any more
> than what they have then maybe they won't be so
> cocky and dismiss their jobs as being menial.
If it were not for the "cockiness" of certain individuals, a number of large corporations (such as Apple) would not exist today. That is something called the "American dream".
On the otherhand, all jobs are important, even that of a laborer. After all, without dock workers, a good chunk of the economy comes to a screaching halt.
> The reason why we don't have world class (pun
> intended) academic achievement is because
> everyone is at garenteed food and shelter.
I'm sure the jobless, the homeless, and the hungry will be most happy to hear that. Not everyone who wants to work can get a job. Those laid off due to no fault of their own can still loose their homes and have no money to feed their families.
> And whose fault is it to put so much money into
> risky ventures. People should accept loss and
> not cry to the government for reparations. Only
> a fool would put their life's savings in one
> kind of investment.
Newsflash: Most retirement programs are invested in money market funds that are invested in the stock market. Joe doesn't choose exactly where the money goes. Most of these 'ventures' are huge established corporations that have failed due to the criminal actions of the people running them.
> Just because something is not in the constition
> doesn't mean that it has no basis.
Well, when you are talking about a "right" to do something that is against the law (such as hacking), you better have some reference in the Constitution that contradicts the law.
> It's funny how leftists like you would refer to
> the Constitution only when it suits you.
No, what is funny is that you think believing in "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is leftist.
> The established norm is that corporations are
> more deserving of favoritism because they fund
> and sustain the nation, period. Civilians don't
> have the power and therefore should deserve less
> attention.
Favoritism, power, and attention: are you sure the corporations aren't just jealous because citizens are teacher's pet?
BTW, it is "citizen", not "civilian". Unless American corporations all joined the army and I wasn't informed?
"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise."
Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", 1964