Well, yes, it's a tax, no argument there. The question becomes who determines how much tax we have to pay. $1/mo may sound good, but what if TPTB decide we (ISP customers) all have to pay $2 per month, regardless of our downloads? $5/mo? Do you really want musicians (and their agents) to have the power to levy taxes on you?
Microsoft's patented DoO2 attack. I was at IBM when they released OS/2 v2. When manufacturing went out to buy floppy disks in bulk for the product launch, they discovered that MS had bought up all the floppy manufacturing capacity for months into the future, allegedly just to screw with OS/2.
This is my favorite SF novel for showing how prescient writers in the sixties and seventies were. This review covered some of the things that Brunner accurately predicted (the Net, disconnection from community (IMHO), plug-in society (dotcom jobhopping?)).
Some other things that Brunner got right: Although he didn't understand the technology, he accurately predicted key escrow, and the government's need (under the aegis of "law enforcement") to be able to bypass the normal defenses of the net for its own purposes; Pro Wrestling; Briefcase Nukes (although this isn't really hard); etc.
Think on this: in TSW, dialing nine nines on the net is a confessional hotline. In RL, 1-800-999-9999 is a nationwide runaway hotline.
Slashdot Mirror
They quoted Jamie Kellner's outrageous "theft" accusation in a footnote. That's great! Let's see the MPAA try to disown THAT...
Well, yes, it's a tax, no argument there. The question becomes who determines how much tax we have to pay. $1/mo may sound good, but what if TPTB decide we (ISP customers) all have to pay $2 per month, regardless of our downloads? $5/mo? Do you really want musicians (and their agents) to have the power to levy taxes on you?
IBM has a long tradition of sucky groupware suites (PROFS, OfficeVision). So much suckage, so little productivity...
When Koogle vowed to vigorously defend himself in court, France immediately surrendered.
Microsoft's patented DoO2 attack. I was at IBM when they released OS/2 v2. When manufacturing went out to buy floppy disks in bulk for the product launch, they discovered that MS had bought up all the floppy manufacturing capacity for months into the future, allegedly just to screw with OS/2.
This is my favorite SF novel for showing how prescient writers in the sixties and seventies were. This review covered some of the things that Brunner accurately predicted (the Net, disconnection from community (IMHO), plug-in society (dotcom jobhopping?)). Some other things that Brunner got right: Although he didn't understand the technology, he accurately predicted key escrow, and the government's need (under the aegis of "law enforcement") to be able to bypass the normal defenses of the net for its own purposes; Pro Wrestling; Briefcase Nukes (although this isn't really hard); etc. Think on this: in TSW, dialing nine nines on the net is a confessional hotline. In RL, 1-800-999-9999 is a nationwide runaway hotline.