Umm, mplayer plays dvds just fine out of the box, and noone I know has had a problem with it if they just read the docs first.
Users don't and shouldn't have to read pages of docs to watch a movie, and they don't have to on other systems, at least on OS X. I don't use Windows but I assume that is the case there too.
Second, if you know how to modify byte codes to get a non standard apm working, well, you should know why you have to recompile your kernel.
I think the point here is that even if one knows how to modify byte codes and recompile the kernel, the vast majority of users don't want to know and do this. The difference is working on the computer or getting work (or entertainment) done with the computer.
And about power management, get the blasted hardware people sticking to the standards and you won't have this problem, dell and gateway and sony use different versions of the standards and each laptop they tweak small things here and there. It's insane!
Again I think you miss the point. Yes there are reasons it can be difficult to make Linux do these things that other OS's are doing out of the box. But the vast majority of users don't want to hear reasons, they want things to work. Until those reasons are fixed somewhere down the line my users don't want to hear it.
A case in point. We had a project where we wanted to move a external firewire drive between two machines, one Linux and one Mac OS X. The drive plugged in to the OS X machine and worked in less than a minute. It took many hours of getting the firewire card drivers to install on the Linux box, requiring a re-compile of the kernel before it would work. Yes I know the arguement that running a Mac is more expensive to purchase but the guy who had to take care of the Linux box side of the project spent the better part of a days time to get it to work and he was being paid about $45/hour. I get paid less and it took me a minute to get my side of the project done. Now mulitply that by many machines and remember that while he is tinkering with those machines I'm getting all kinds of work done on other projects too.
Sorry if I tangented a little here but I am dealing with the decision of what to replace old Solaris machines with in our small office setting and more and more I don't see Linux as a friendly enough choice on the desktop or even in the back room for many reasons.
I think it may be possible to backup this info. I haven't had to do that. I did one re-install since buying music and all I did was copy my iTunes directories from my backup disk to the proper location on my re-install machine. Then under one of the menues in iTunes is an option to Authorize this computer to play purchased songs. I guess that is what I meant by re-license. I have no idea what the original poster had in mind. To me is sounds like that person has never used a product that they are complaining about.
Apparently you've never wanted to play your music on any non-apple product without first expanding your files to 12x their original size, and then possibly having to re-compress them to another format.
Nope. CD's and my iPod seem to cover all bases so far.
I also imagine you've never had to deal with losing a hard disk full of all those precious songs and having to redownload and re-license them for your new machine because you can't just copy them over.
If people can't backup data safely and redundantly then that is a problem that has nothing to do with a DRM. Copying files from a backup disk is no big deal and would be a process independent of where my music came from. Re-licensing them takes less than a minute and is behind the scenes once I authenticate my account in iTunes.
Certainly though, you've drunk Apple's cool-aid with respect to AAC having acceptable sound quality, despite strong evidence that it's only *marginally* better than MP3 at low bit rates (which ITMS files are).
I have not drank any cool-aid and am very critical of Apple when appropriate. Your comment is a subjective argument and as I said the quality works great for me. If you aren't happy with the quality don't buy it, and that again isn't a DRM argument.
But that's okay, you keep racking up those charges on your credit card, while the rest of us will continue our boycott of the RIAA until they begin distributing a good product for a fair price.
Apparently some of us feel this is a good product. I'd be happy to hear of a better method that gives this much flexibilty and can work. I would note that I feel the theft of music is not an option and is against the law. Please present an alternative that you would find acceptable. I would be interested in it. Change my mind...
I guess I personally don't feel crippled by Apple's DRM system. I can buy my music there if they have what I want, burn it to as many CD's as I want, copy it to as many backup disks as I want, actively play the music on up to three computers at a time, and carry it around on my iPod wherever I go. The audio format is totally acceptable to my tastes.
So far I haven't felt screwed by any means and I'm happy it is an option to get some of my music. Granted it is not for everyone but no one forces anyone to use it.
Microsoft is now officially a threat to Homeland Security. Maybe George should drop some bombs on Redmond! We know where they are and they keep putting out a product that threatens our security. Oh wait, the government saw fit to give them a slap on the wrist and turn around and contracted even more unsafe software from them. They'll undoubtedly be mentioned in future hindsight publications from congress but on blanked out pages for national security reasons. That's what we do for "friends".
Hydra works over the internet also. You don't have to be "sitting at a meeting", but you do need a Mac. Of course nothing stops you from buying a Mac if you want to.
Not sure what using LaTeX has to do with any of this. Hydra does support LaTeX color syntaxing and will eventually work with typesetting your documents too from what it says in the FAQ. Of course TeXShop already does that nicely on OS X. Getting edits from many users for a shared LaTeX file seems to work great with Hydra. I just had a friend share a paper I wrote on a machine across campus and I was able to find it instantly with Hydra (and Rendevous), add my LaTeX modifications and was done. A quick run of latex at the command line on his end and we were set!
I may not be understanding why Jabber "may" be so great for this type of work...someday in the future, but seems that Hydra is doing it today, and will only get better in future.
Cool tools like this that I can setup in seconds and teach ANYONE to use in a minute are why I'll never mess with Linux for desktop work again. My time is money!
Wow. Very in depth analysis without ever seeing more than a picture on the web! Why don't you give it a little time and look at one in person, or you might even (imagine this) want to try out the product before bashing it!? Aesthetics are in the look and feel of using a product, not just a couple of crappy images off the internet.
Slashdot Mirror
Umm, mplayer plays dvds just fine out of the box, and noone I know has had a problem with it if they just read the docs first.
Users don't and shouldn't have to read pages of docs to watch a movie, and they don't have to on other systems, at least on OS X. I don't use Windows but I assume that is the case there too.
Second, if you know how to modify byte codes to get a non standard apm working, well, you should know why you
have to recompile your kernel.
I think the point here is that even if one knows how to modify byte codes and recompile the kernel, the vast majority of users don't want to know and do this. The difference is working on the computer or getting work (or entertainment) done with the computer.
And about power management, get the blasted hardware people sticking to the standards and you won't have this problem, dell and gateway and sony use different versions of the standards and each laptop they tweak small things here and there. It's insane!
Again I think you miss the point. Yes there are reasons it can be difficult to make Linux do these things that other OS's are doing out of the box. But the vast majority of users don't want to hear reasons, they want things to work. Until those reasons are fixed somewhere down the line my users don't want to hear it.
A case in point. We had a project where we wanted to move a external firewire drive between two machines, one Linux and one Mac OS X. The drive plugged in to the OS X machine and worked in less than a minute. It took many hours of getting the firewire card drivers to install on the Linux box, requiring a re-compile of the kernel before it would work. Yes I know the arguement that running a Mac is more expensive to purchase but the guy who had to take care of the Linux box side of the project spent the better part of a days time to get it to work and he was being paid about $45/hour. I get paid less and it took me a minute to get my side of the project done. Now mulitply that by many machines and remember that while he is tinkering with those machines I'm getting all kinds of work done on other projects too.
Sorry if I tangented a little here but I am dealing with the decision of what to replace old Solaris machines with in our small office setting and more and more I don't see Linux as a friendly enough choice on the desktop or even in the back room for many reasons.
I think it may be possible to backup this info. I haven't had to do that. I did one re-install since buying music and all I did was copy my iTunes directories from my backup disk to the proper location on my re-install machine. Then under one of the menues in iTunes is an option to Authorize this computer to play purchased songs. I guess that is what I meant by re-license. I have no idea what the original poster had in mind. To me is sounds like that person has never used a product that they are complaining about.
Nope. CD's and my iPod seem to cover all bases so far.
I also imagine you've never had to deal with losing a hard disk full of all those precious songs and having to redownload and re-license them for your new machine because you can't just copy them over.
If people can't backup data safely and redundantly then that is a problem that has nothing to do with a DRM. Copying files from a backup disk is no big deal and would be a process independent of where my music came from. Re-licensing them takes less than a minute and is behind the scenes once I authenticate my account in iTunes.
Certainly though, you've drunk Apple's cool-aid with respect to AAC having acceptable sound quality, despite strong evidence that it's only *marginally* better than MP3 at low bit rates (which ITMS files are).
I have not drank any cool-aid and am very critical of Apple when appropriate. Your comment is a subjective argument and as I said the quality works great for me. If you aren't happy with the quality don't buy it, and that again isn't a DRM argument.
But that's okay, you keep racking up those charges on your credit card, while the rest of us will continue our boycott of the RIAA until they begin distributing a good product for a fair price.
Apparently some of us feel this is a good product. I'd be happy to hear of a better method that gives this much flexibilty and can work. I would note that I feel the theft of music is not an option and is against the law. Please present an alternative that you would find acceptable. I would be interested in it. Change my mind...
I guess I personally don't feel crippled by Apple's DRM system. I can buy my music there if they have what I want, burn it to as many CD's as I want, copy it to as many backup disks as I want, actively play the music on up to three computers at a time, and carry it around on my iPod wherever I go. The audio format is totally acceptable to my tastes.
So far I haven't felt screwed by any means and I'm happy it is an option to get some of my music. Granted it is not for everyone but no one forces anyone to use it.
Maybe I'm missing something?
Microsoft is now officially a threat to Homeland Security. Maybe George should drop some bombs on Redmond! We know where they are and they keep putting out a product that threatens our security. Oh wait, the government saw fit to give them a slap on the wrist and turn around and contracted even more unsafe software from them. They'll undoubtedly be mentioned in future hindsight publications from congress but on blanked out pages for national security reasons. That's what we do for "friends".
Ugh.
Wilersh
Hydra works over the internet also. You don't have to be "sitting at a meeting", but you do need a Mac. Of course nothing stops you from buying a Mac if you want to.
Not sure what using LaTeX has to do with any of this. Hydra does support LaTeX color syntaxing and will eventually work with typesetting your documents too from what it says in the FAQ. Of course TeXShop already does that nicely on OS X. Getting edits from many users for a shared LaTeX file seems to work great with Hydra. I just had a friend share a paper I wrote on a machine across campus and I was able to find it instantly with Hydra (and Rendevous), add my LaTeX modifications and was done. A quick run of latex at the command line on his end and we were set!
I may not be understanding why Jabber "may" be so great for this type of work...someday in the future, but seems that Hydra is doing it today, and will only get better in future.
Cool tools like this that I can setup in seconds and teach ANYONE to use in a minute are why I'll never mess with Linux for desktop work again. My time is money!
Wilersh
Wow. Very in depth analysis without ever seeing more than a picture on the web! Why don't you give it a little time and look at one in person, or you might even (imagine this) want to try out the product before bashing it!? Aesthetics are in the look and feel of using a product, not just a couple of crappy images off the internet.
Yeesh...