currently, I'm a windows XP user. I've used Microsoft from DOS 6.22 to NT to 2000 to XP and I'm very proficient in how to use these os'es to the point where I'm confortable in how they work and what to do if something goes wrong.
Would that be reinstall, or reboot?;-)
What I'm looking for is a Linux book that doesn't walk you through a liunx distro step by step from installiation to installing apps, etc, but more along the lines of "this is how it's done in windows, and this is how linux does the same thing. Or a straght reference manual.
I am a hands-on learner, and I really think the only way to do this is to jump in with both feet. You can learn out of necessity, and having a reference manual with you will help. I like the Unix Systems Administrator's Handbook, which used to be called the red book, but the latest copy is purple. Download and burn a Knoppix CD, boot up your PC with it, and have at it. Or if you have an extra PC around, install a distro on it. The only way to get familiar with Linux is to experience it.
I am just glad that all of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are off the streets, and this boob can concentrate on the REAL dangers to our society - pirating shitty music.
Disney's Himmler on Ice! A wonderful show for the entire family. Don't miss out; order your tickets today!
No no no. You got the "Disney's Himmler" part right, but he is going to sit on the board, not be in the shows. They have an opening now you know...
Re:No no no
on
PC Annoyances
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I've been running XP for almost 6 months and it has *never* crashed.
I was forced to switch OSs at work. I was one of the last holdouts on Win98. Yeah, I got the BSOD about every other day, but I didn't want to deal with the downtime of upgrading. (it isn't simple, because of corporate policy) I finally got a new machine with XP on it, and it took me a few days to configure it so I didn't think I was using a Fischer Price toy. (anyone know how to get rid of that damn animated dog when doing a file find?)
While XP itself hasn't crashed on me yet, I have had to reboot several times because the system slowed to a crawl, or applications hang and cannot be restarted correctly. You know the defacto solution to most Windows problems - say it with me now - reboot! Do I prefer rebooting it myself instead of having the system force a reboot? Of course. Do we have to reboot our Windows systems to keep them happy? Yes, and often.
What happens if you edit the file in a graphic utility? Does it alter the hidden info? Destroy it? Do different actions (hue shift, paining-on-top) affect the outcomes?
Hmm. If it does, you could use it to your advantage.
Encrypt your message. Use steg to hide it in an image. For that added level of (ob)s(e)curity you could hue shift the image whatever values you wanted before hiding your message in it. Adjust the values to "normal" before sending it.
To completely decrypt it, you would have to be able to set the R,G, and B values to the correct ones, then de-steg it to get the message, then unencrypt it.
Seriously, do any of you have information that is THAT secret?:-)
"If you hate your job you don't quit. Just get in there every day and do it really half-assed." -Homer Simpson
Yeah yeah, offtopic. But you have to fix your sig man. If you are going to quote, get it right. You are way off - it is "Lisa, if you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way."
- if a car engineer lived next door, would they call him every month to fix their car for free? Nope. - if an electronics engineer lived next door, would they call him every month to repair their TV for free? Nope. - if a plumber lived next door, would they call him every month to unclog their toilet for free? Nope. - if a skilled carpenter lived next door, would they call him every month to fix some piece of furniture for free? Nope. Why? Basically because they have more respect for that plumber than for you. They can understand that:
1. Plumbing is real work, and it deserves compensation. On the other hand they likely see you not as an "expert", but rather as "bah, even kids know this stuff. If we only had a 10 year old, we'd ask him instead."
2. They can understand that the plumber has better stuff to do with his time. Like, dunno, grab a can of beer and watch the football game. Whereas what they think of you is more likely the exact opposite "some sad geek who surely has nothing to do with his time anyway."
3. Also because that plumber has enough self-respect to say "no". Whereas you seems to measure your worth by how much other people abused your time. Well, keep flattering yourself, and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to take advantage of you. Because that's all it is: taking advantage of someone who can't say no.
So, dunno, personally I'd rather be know as the "bad" guy who will _not_ fix your computer. (Well, not unless you're willing to pay my consultant fee.)
I don't give a flying ____ (sexual intercourse) if some random neighbour considers me an expert or not. What really matter is if my boss considers me an expert.
-------------- Well, you did put it in *a* perspective, but not the right one. The only way your perspective is correct is if you are a computer repair person by trade. If not, then you do it as a hobby.
Look at it like this:
I work on my own cars. If a neighbor knew this, and asked me to have a look at his car because it was making a weird noise and thought I might be able to help, I would. And I wouldn't charge him. If it was some kind of repair that would take time and effort, I might say "I can fix that, but it would take some time - you provide the pizza and beer."
If I was into carpentry, and someone asked me to do something simple, I would. If it was something more extensive, I would tell them that I could give them an estimate on how much it would cost to fix.
Computers are a hobby as much as they are a profession. People enjoy their hobbies, and like to help others. There is a line where it becomes a job, and you should be compensated for it. If someone asked me to build a computer for them, I would, and I would tell them that I would do it for $50 over cost (or whatever I wanted to charge). Same thing for repairing. I'd look at it for free, and if it was some easy fix, I'd fix it for free. If it was something that required more time, I'd tell them so, and that it might cost them some money. It isn't that difficult, you don't have to be a dick about it.
What really pisses me off is the fact that at once, people can be both so vehement in their zeal for winning business away from Microsoft, while also so incredibly unwilling or utterly unable to accept the very criticisms that would help them affect positive changes toward reaching that goal.
Understood. Part of me *would* like to see it become more mainstream, and it kind of has in the business world. But I don't know if the average computer user is ready for something that requires a little more technical knowledge. For crying out loud, most people have enough trouble with Windows!
You use that same argument when trying to sell OSS solutions to major customers?
First off, I don't sell any OSS solutions to anyone. Neither does a community. If you are selling OSS solutions to a customer then you aren't offering them anything they can't get themselves, then you aren't doing them any favors. In that case, you are just selling software, and not a solution. CIO: "I don't like this aspect of [whatever]." You: "I'm passionate, and don't feel I need to defend myself from that attack." CIO: "Okay... Uh... Well when will this aspect improve?" You: "Uh, when it needs to, of course." CIO: "Am I supposed to consider that acceptable?" You: "That's the way it works."
How about:
CIO: "I don't like this aspect of [whatever]." You: "We can change that if you like, and work that into the terms of the contract."
And you're probably one of the people that's actually shocked that Windows runs 95% (or whatever) of the desktops in the world.
Nope, it doesn't surprise me at all. As long as they don't try to sabotage all competition, I don't care what they do. They can have 95% of the market share, as long as they don't try to fuck the other 5%. From now on, I'll be damned sure to ignore the incessant bitching and moaning here on/. about Microsoft's marketshare, as OSS will make it to the consumer desktop in meaningful numbers "when it needs to". And, if people like you continue to have the same childish inability to understand criticism, that will happen about a week after never.
I never said that I didn't understand the criticism of the OSS community. I agree with much of it. I am not the community. Neither is anyone else. That is the point that is missed - a community cannot be judged by the extremes on either end. You will always be able to say that you got some kind of bad response from someone in the OSS community. That is because there is no PR person to gloss things over. I have been on the receiving end of some ill-places harsh statements from some know-it-all end user - but I don't hold it against the whole community.
Take a step back and realize that wrestling the desktop out of Microsoft's cold, dead hands isn't the ultimate goal. I don't care if OSS ever becomes mainstream. I like it despite its flaws.
One flaw of the Open Source community is that it responds to trolls like this article.
Maybe it is because it is a "community" and nobody rules it, maybe it is because it is passionate about what it does and feels the need to defend it when attacked. There are some things that might need some improving, but the Open Source Community has done quite well the way it has been operating since it started. It will improve when it needs to improve, that is how it works.
In informal contexts, I always use the singular "they". Fuck, it's been part of the English language for seven centuries. Just because Latin-misinterpreting prescriptive grammarians didn't like it doesn't mean it's a bad idea.
So this gets really confusing, and *obviously* I am not the only one who is baffled by this. How come then when "they are" is written as a contraction, people remove either the "y a" or replace the "y a" with "i" and remove the "e" at the end?
English is complicated.
P.S. That intense beeping you hear is your sarcasm meter.
For most of the Slashdot crowd, I think this would be like trying to explain computers to someone from the 1800s. There are prerequisites that they just can't quite fathom.
Well, the implicaction of the effort of these guys probably means that there will be two competing X11 servers, very analogous to the Linux distributions versus the *BSDs.
Under the proposed system, when you take into account the scale of things, not having any artists in your most lucrative sales category could spell disaster.
True, this may be offset by the sales of older songs, which, is indeed a very large library, but how long would that market last? Sure, people would love to have new access to old material, but after a while, once people have bought their favourites, that market won't bring in a lot of revenue.
Yeah, I can see that. But by "opening the vault" as it were, it might not be so much a money-making venture as a market booster. You would get people talking, and interested in music again. You'd be pushing the digital format. They could still hype their new artists. And think of the ability to move forward with this strategy. Their archive would grow year by year, and maybe their artists would get more longevity. They wouldn't have to pump-and-dump the latest albums. Surely those greedy bastards would think of some way to use it to their advantage. And I think it could put a hurt on the P2P market if they did it right.
Don't forget that most of their money comes from new hit artists. Even if the older stuff were available, it would be unlikely to exceed the sales of newer artists' works simply because there is a fixed set of "old" artists. On top of that, nobody is going to spend money to promote the older artists.
And they could still be making that money from the new artists. Maybe if you buy the new 50 cent album and pick it up in the store, you get 10 free classic rap tracks on MP3. (they'd still get their burning fee, of course). You have to remember though, that the "old artists" database will grow every year. And there would be those "crossing over" thresholds that they could advertise, where an album crosses from the 0.99/track to the 0.25/track line. A huge point is though, that right now they are making ZERO money on music that is unavailable. If they never make it available, they will never make money on it. Now they can make it available for nearly no cost, so whatever they make is essentially free money. And let's not forget the boost an artist's music gets when they have a late sure, or die. Johnny Cash is a great example of both. His rendention of Hurt was awesome, and got people buying his music again. Ozzy is another great example. Yeah, that might be money they wouldn't make if their music was in the "oldies" section, but think of the foot traffic they would get if you knew you could get all of Johnny Cash's music for 0.25/song. (and you could ONLY get it in a music store)
I agree with some of your points, but I think the music industry needs to kick itself in the ass. iPods and other MP3 players are huge, and it is obvious that music in digital format is here to stay. It is a *PROVEN* market, and it was proven when Napster took off. That was several years ago, and the music industry is still sitting on its ass trying to stop it. They have to embrace it or they will go extinct.
I've watched this show a few times, and I have found it absolutely unfunny. What am I missing, slashdot?
A sense of humor?
Nahh, I wouldn't say that. I have seen some funny parts in this show, but it just doesn't do it for me. And before you think "he doesn't get it", I do. I just don't think it is that funny or clever. Sure, I laughed a few times, but I just don't care about anything in that show. I know, it is just a cartoon, but they still have to do some kind of character development. Futurama did this from the first episode, almost in a creepy way. It was like there wasn't any "break-in" episodes, it just hit the ground running. The Simpsons has pretty much grown-up, and can still (surprisingly) make me laugh in every episode. I find that I like the re-runs of episodes better than the first time I see them, but I am not sure why.
That is my over-analysis of The Family Guy. The simple analysis is I just don't care about it, and the humor is too straightforward. It seems like it is just a couple of one-liners that they built an episode around. Ho-hum.
would also like this idea, but it would never fly. What you're advocating essentially puts financial pressure on the record labels to continuously generate new hit artists. If they fail to do so, their revenue stream would logarithmically approach zero.
Gee, you mean like it is today? How would this be any different than today's market? The difference is that they could make money off of the old stuff collecting dust, and generate genuine interest in music again. P2P is going to kick their asses even harder in the future, unless they come up with some kind of effective DRM (which they won't). All they are doing is generating a distaste for the music industry.
Ask yourself this: would you implement this business model if you had a vested interest in the RIAA?
Absolutely! They are shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. I wouldn't believe that the majority of my customers are criminals. I would undercut P2P with a better idea! One trip to a record store could get you gigs of MP3s that you wouldn't have to sit and wait to download. [IF you could find the songs, and IF you had high-speed internet, and IF you were able to download one that wasn't a crappy rip] They also wouldn't ahve to dump so much money into pushing certain artists. They could still do that, but their "lesser" artists would have a better shot of making it. (everyone wins)
You can't beat free, but you can sure compete with it by attacking its weaknesses. Make people WANT to go into the record stores again. I just had another idea - For every new CD you buy, you get 10 free "oldies" on MP3. That will force you to either not use them, or sit there in the store and pick out the ones you want. Oh, why not throw on another 10, that would only be another dollar.
The RIAA has been able to screw people out of their money for quite a long time, they should smile wryly, say "well, it was a good run, I am surprised we got away with it that long" and move the fuck on. CDs used to cost a lot to produce, they don't anymore. But CD prices haven't changed. Forget the future, they need to embrace the 1990s! Digital music is here to stay, and if they don't embrace it they will crash and burn. Period. I have just given them a rough outline of how to do it, and I am no genius. I just know what I want - music. They need to LISTEN for once. I would love it if they would implement something like this, but if they did, they would probably fuck it up, like charging $1 per song, and have a very limited selection, and have some dumbass attempt at DRM imposed.
The point I'm making is that the value of going to record stores is the physicality of the media. Remove that and you're complicating an already established process of downloading at home. Accentuate that value and you may make it worthwhile to go out to a store.
Three things, I think:
1. Selection. The amount of music they could make available would be immense.
2. Combine that with software so you can search for all songs written by a certain writer, or have it suggest similar songs, or recommendations, or other people's recommendations. Don't do it online, do it client/server. Faster, and it would keep people in the store.
3. For an hour trip to the store, you could pick up several gigs of MP3s. Try and download that off the net, and you'll be waiting a while. Not to mention the guaranteed quality. Not to mention the fact that not everyone has high-speed access.
Hey, it may not be a perfect system, but I think it could work.
Don't underestimate the bandwidth of getting off your ass and going down to a record store to pay a reasonable sum for a CD with 700MB of MP3s on it.
Have you ever watched Star Wars and been amazed that Human beings could understand what R2D2 is saying?
They could? I thought only C3PO could understand him. He could understand the human commands, but they couldn't understand him. Or am I forgetting something?
And commenting on the posters (or editors) comments aren't off topic. If they aren't relevant, they shouldn't be included in the posting.
It won't work because the world was just sold virtually (perhaps a pun?!) the same concept by Apple except that you get to do all this from your couch. The only reason I, or anyone else sold on "music via files", would bother going to a record shop is obtaining the physical album art.
No way. Do you realize how many songs/albums are out there, rotting away? Think of the sheer volume of things that you cannot get on iTunes, or even P2P systems. Want the definitive collective works of Johnny Cash? Go into a record store with this system and be able to listen to and buy every single song that Johnny Cash was a part of. Like a certain guitar player? Find every song he/she played on.
The one disadvantage is that opening up the massive vault of the past will shine a very bright light on today's artists. Why should I buy the latest N'Stink album when I have the entire works of the Jackson 5 available to me? Why listen to Christina when you can hear Aretha?
As for getting off the couch, eventually people will need to get their asses off the couch. Don't underestimate the bandwidth of getting off your ass and going down to a record store to pay a reasonable sum for a CD with 700MB of MP3s on it. To beat P2P, the music industry has to make going to the store worthwhile. This system could do it.
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Actually, for geeks this is an easy decision.
poo = 0
good = 1
Therefore, eMachines = 0 and Athlon64 = 1
Since you are getting both of them, logically you have to AND them.
(1 AND 0) = 0 = poo
Would that be reinstall, or reboot? ;-)
What I'm looking for is a Linux book that doesn't walk you through a liunx distro step by step from installiation to installing apps, etc, but more along the lines of "this is how it's done in windows, and this is how linux does the same thing. Or a straght reference manual.
I am a hands-on learner, and I really think the only way to do this is to jump in with both feet. You can learn out of necessity, and having a reference manual with you will help. I like the Unix Systems Administrator's Handbook, which used to be called the red book, but the latest copy is purple. Download and burn a Knoppix CD, boot up your PC with it, and have at it. Or if you have an extra PC around, install a distro on it. The only way to get familiar with Linux is to experience it.
I am just glad that all of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are off the streets, and this boob can concentrate on the REAL dangers to our society - pirating shitty music.
No no no. You got the "Disney's Himmler" part right, but he is going to sit on the board, not be in the shows. They have an opening now you know...
I was forced to switch OSs at work. I was one of the last holdouts on Win98. Yeah, I got the BSOD about every other day, but I didn't want to deal with the downtime of upgrading. (it isn't simple, because of corporate policy) I finally got a new machine with XP on it, and it took me a few days to configure it so I didn't think I was using a Fischer Price toy. (anyone know how to get rid of that damn animated dog when doing a file find?)
While XP itself hasn't crashed on me yet, I have had to reboot several times because the system slowed to a crawl, or applications hang and cannot be restarted correctly. You know the defacto solution to most Windows problems - say it with me now - reboot! Do I prefer rebooting it myself instead of having the system force a reboot? Of course. Do we have to reboot our Windows systems to keep them happy? Yes, and often.
Hmm. If it does, you could use it to your advantage. Encrypt your message. Use steg to hide it in an image. For that added level of (ob)s(e)curity you could hue shift the image whatever values you wanted before hiding your message in it. Adjust the values to "normal" before sending it.
To completely decrypt it, you would have to be able to set the R,G, and B values to the correct ones, then de-steg it to get the message, then unencrypt it.
Seriously, do any of you have information that is THAT secret? :-)
Yeah yeah, offtopic. But you have to fix your sig man. If you are going to quote, get it right. You are way off - it is "Lisa, if you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way."
I thought you were going to say "US Politician".
Oh, that is what the first poster said. Sorry.
- if a car engineer lived next door, would they call him every month to fix their car for free? Nope.
- if an electronics engineer lived next door, would they call him every month to repair their TV for free? Nope.
- if a plumber lived next door, would they call him every month to unclog their toilet for free? Nope.
- if a skilled carpenter lived next door, would they call him every month to fix some piece of furniture for free? Nope.
Why? Basically because they have more respect for that plumber than for you. They can understand that:
1. Plumbing is real work, and it deserves compensation. On the other hand they likely see you not as an "expert", but rather as "bah, even kids know this stuff. If we only had a 10 year old, we'd ask him instead."
2. They can understand that the plumber has better stuff to do with his time. Like, dunno, grab a can of beer and watch the football game. Whereas what they think of you is more likely the exact opposite "some sad geek who surely has nothing to do with his time anyway."
3. Also because that plumber has enough self-respect to say "no". Whereas you seems to measure your worth by how much other people abused your time. Well, keep flattering yourself, and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to take advantage of you. Because that's all it is: taking advantage of someone who can't say no.
So, dunno, personally I'd rather be know as the "bad" guy who will _not_ fix your computer. (Well, not unless you're willing to pay my consultant fee.)
I don't give a flying ____ (sexual intercourse) if some random neighbour considers me an expert or not. What really matter is if my boss considers me an expert.
--------------
Well, you did put it in *a* perspective, but not the right one. The only way your perspective is correct is if you are a computer repair person by trade. If not, then you do it as a hobby.
Look at it like this:
I work on my own cars. If a neighbor knew this, and asked me to have a look at his car because it was making a weird noise and thought I might be able to help, I would. And I wouldn't charge him. If it was some kind of repair that would take time and effort, I might say "I can fix that, but it would take some time - you provide the pizza and beer."
If I was into carpentry, and someone asked me to do something simple, I would. If it was something more extensive, I would tell them that I could give them an estimate on how much it would cost to fix.
Computers are a hobby as much as they are a profession. People enjoy their hobbies, and like to help others. There is a line where it becomes a job, and you should be compensated for it. If someone asked me to build a computer for them, I would, and I would tell them that I would do it for $50 over cost (or whatever I wanted to charge). Same thing for repairing. I'd look at it for free, and if it was some easy fix, I'd fix it for free. If it was something that required more time, I'd tell them so, and that it might cost them some money. It isn't that difficult, you don't have to be a dick about it.
Kind of takes like a worm. A Blaster worm.
Understood. Part of me *would* like to see it become more mainstream, and it kind of has in the business world. But I don't know if the average computer user is ready for something that requires a little more technical knowledge. For crying out loud, most people have enough trouble with Windows!
First off, I don't sell any OSS solutions to anyone. Neither does a community. If you are selling OSS solutions to a customer then you aren't offering them anything they can't get themselves, then you aren't doing them any favors.
In that case, you are just selling software, and not a solution.
CIO: "I don't like this aspect of [whatever]."
You: "I'm passionate, and don't feel I need to defend myself from that attack."
CIO: "Okay... Uh... Well when will this aspect improve?"
You: "Uh, when it needs to, of course."
CIO: "Am I supposed to consider that acceptable?"
You: "That's the way it works."
How about:
CIO: "I don't like this aspect of [whatever]."
You: "We can change that if you like, and work that into the terms of the contract."
And you're probably one of the people that's actually shocked that Windows runs 95% (or whatever) of the desktops in the world.
Nope, it doesn't surprise me at all. As long as they don't try to sabotage all competition, I don't care what they do. They can have 95% of the market share, as long as they don't try to fuck the other 5%.
From now on, I'll be damned sure to ignore the incessant bitching and moaning here on
I never said that I didn't understand the criticism of the OSS community. I agree with much of it. I am not the community. Neither is anyone else. That is the point that is missed - a community cannot be judged by the extremes on either end. You will always be able to say that you got some kind of bad response from someone in the OSS community. That is because there is no PR person to gloss things over. I have been on the receiving end of some ill-places harsh statements from some know-it-all end user - but I don't hold it against the whole community.
Take a step back and realize that wrestling the desktop out of Microsoft's cold, dead hands isn't the ultimate goal. I don't care if OSS ever becomes mainstream. I like it despite its flaws.
Maybe it is because it is a "community" and nobody rules it, maybe it is because it is passionate about what it does and feels the need to defend it when attacked. There are some things that might need some improving, but the Open Source Community has done quite well the way it has been operating since it started. It will improve when it needs to improve, that is how it works.
Or certain terminal based rippers/encoders.
So this gets really confusing, and *obviously* I am not the only one who is baffled by this. How come then when "they are" is written as a contraction, people remove either the "y a" or replace the "y a" with "i" and remove the "e" at the end?
English is complicated.
P.S. That intense beeping you hear is your sarcasm meter.
For most of the Slashdot crowd, I think this would be like trying to explain computers to someone from the 1800s. There are prerequisites that they just can't quite fathom.
OK, that's it then. XFree86 is dying.
Yeah, I can see that. But by "opening the vault" as it were, it might not be so much a money-making venture as a market booster. You would get people talking, and interested in music again. You'd be pushing the digital format. They could still hype their new artists. And think of the ability to move forward with this strategy. Their archive would grow year by year, and maybe their artists would get more longevity. They wouldn't have to pump-and-dump the latest albums. Surely those greedy bastards would think of some way to use it to their advantage. And I think it could put a hurt on the P2P market if they did it right.
Don't forget that most of their money comes from new hit artists. Even if the older stuff were available, it would be unlikely to exceed the sales of newer artists' works simply because there is a fixed set of "old" artists. On top of that, nobody is going to spend money to promote the older artists.
And they could still be making that money from the new artists. Maybe if you buy the new 50 cent album and pick it up in the store, you get 10 free classic rap tracks on MP3. (they'd still get their burning fee, of course). You have to remember though, that the "old artists" database will grow every year. And there would be those "crossing over" thresholds that they could advertise, where an album crosses from the 0.99/track to the 0.25/track line. A huge point is though, that right now they are making ZERO money on music that is unavailable. If they never make it available, they will never make money on it. Now they can make it available for nearly no cost, so whatever they make is essentially free money. And let's not forget the boost an artist's music gets when they have a late sure, or die. Johnny Cash is a great example of both. His rendention of Hurt was awesome, and got people buying his music again. Ozzy is another great example. Yeah, that might be money they wouldn't make if their music was in the "oldies" section, but think of the foot traffic they would get if you knew you could get all of Johnny Cash's music for 0.25/song. (and you could ONLY get it in a music store)
I agree with some of your points, but I think the music industry needs to kick itself in the ass. iPods and other MP3 players are huge, and it is obvious that music in digital format is here to stay. It is a *PROVEN* market, and it was proven when Napster took off. That was several years ago, and the music industry is still sitting on its ass trying to stop it. They have to embrace it or they will go extinct.
Funny, my apt-get using h4x0r3d.debian.org was working perfectly....
Yeah, just wait until Li Mu Bai finds out, he is going to be pissed.
A sense of humor?
Nahh, I wouldn't say that. I have seen some funny parts in this show, but it just doesn't do it for me. And before you think "he doesn't get it", I do. I just don't think it is that funny or clever. Sure, I laughed a few times, but I just don't care about anything in that show. I know, it is just a cartoon, but they still have to do some kind of character development. Futurama did this from the first episode, almost in a creepy way. It was like there wasn't any "break-in" episodes, it just hit the ground running. The Simpsons has pretty much grown-up, and can still (surprisingly) make me laugh in every episode. I find that I like the re-runs of episodes better than the first time I see them, but I am not sure why.
That is my over-analysis of The Family Guy. The simple analysis is I just don't care about it, and the humor is too straightforward. It seems like it is just a couple of one-liners that they built an episode around. Ho-hum.
Gee, you mean like it is today? How would this be any different than today's market? The difference is that they could make money off of the old stuff collecting dust, and generate genuine interest in music again. P2P is going to kick their asses even harder in the future, unless they come up with some kind of effective DRM (which they won't). All they are doing is generating a distaste for the music industry.
Ask yourself this: would you implement this business model if you had a vested interest in the RIAA?
Absolutely! They are shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. I wouldn't believe that the majority of my customers are criminals. I would undercut P2P with a better idea! One trip to a record store could get you gigs of MP3s that you wouldn't have to sit and wait to download. [IF you could find the songs, and IF you had high-speed internet, and IF you were able to download one that wasn't a crappy rip] They also wouldn't ahve to dump so much money into pushing certain artists. They could still do that, but their "lesser" artists would have a better shot of making it. (everyone wins)
You can't beat free, but you can sure compete with it by attacking its weaknesses. Make people WANT to go into the record stores again. I just had another idea - For every new CD you buy, you get 10 free "oldies" on MP3. That will force you to either not use them, or sit there in the store and pick out the ones you want. Oh, why not throw on another 10, that would only be another dollar.
The RIAA has been able to screw people out of their money for quite a long time, they should smile wryly, say "well, it was a good run, I am surprised we got away with it that long" and move the fuck on. CDs used to cost a lot to produce, they don't anymore. But CD prices haven't changed. Forget the future, they need to embrace the 1990s! Digital music is here to stay, and if they don't embrace it they will crash and burn. Period. I have just given them a rough outline of how to do it, and I am no genius. I just know what I want - music. They need to LISTEN for once. I would love it if they would implement something like this, but if they did, they would probably fuck it up, like charging $1 per song, and have a very limited selection, and have some dumbass attempt at DRM imposed.
Three things, I think:
1. Selection. The amount of music they could make available would be immense.
2. Combine that with software so you can search for all songs written by a certain writer, or have it suggest similar songs, or recommendations, or other people's recommendations. Don't do it online, do it client/server. Faster, and it would keep people in the store.
3. For an hour trip to the store, you could pick up several gigs of MP3s. Try and download that off the net, and you'll be waiting a while. Not to mention the guaranteed quality. Not to mention the fact that not everyone has high-speed access.
Hey, it may not be a perfect system, but I think it could work.
They could? I thought only C3PO could understand him. He could understand the human commands, but they couldn't understand him. Or am I forgetting something?
And commenting on the posters (or editors) comments aren't off topic. If they aren't relevant, they shouldn't be included in the posting.
No way. Do you realize how many songs/albums are out there, rotting away? Think of the sheer volume of things that you cannot get on iTunes, or even P2P systems. Want the definitive collective works of Johnny Cash? Go into a record store with this system and be able to listen to and buy every single song that Johnny Cash was a part of. Like a certain guitar player? Find every song he/she played on.
The one disadvantage is that opening up the massive vault of the past will shine a very bright light on today's artists. Why should I buy the latest N'Stink album when I have the entire works of the Jackson 5 available to me? Why listen to Christina when you can hear Aretha?
As for getting off the couch, eventually people will need to get their asses off the couch. Don't underestimate the bandwidth of getting off your ass and going down to a record store to pay a reasonable sum for a CD with 700MB of MP3s on it. To beat P2P, the music industry has to make going to the store worthwhile. This system could do it.