I'm really excited about New Horizons. It's a really exciting mission that almost didn't get the support it needed. If you do some Googling you can find out the full story about it.
Hell, I know Pluto isn't considered a planet... but that to me makes NH even more exciting. Pluto is a large KBO (Kuiper Belt Object) and as such has the potential to be a very early remnant of the formation of our solar system. As such, investigating this object and Charon, it's "moon" has the potential to teach us far more about the early existence of the solar system than investigating many other objects. To be honest, I'm MORE excited about a trip to a relatively unknown and uncharted object such as a KBO than I would be over the exploration of another planet (despite the fact that these are arbitrary designations at best)
The NEAR mission was fascinating for the same reason. It was investigation of a relatively unknown object and we learned far more about the nature of asteroids and other deep space objects during that mission than we ever thought possible. If NH even returns half of the information about Pluto that NEAR returned about the asteroid Eros then we will learn an incredible amount about our solar system, and maybe change a few models about solar system formation that might just change some minds.
Good show, NASA. Sometimes you're the butt of a lot of jokes, but there are times you manage some truly remarkable missions (the mars rovers for one) that increase our understanding of the universe and just really excite science geeks like me:)
- no iChat! no iChat A/V! How LAME! Either a) it's part of the deal not to step on Cingular's toes by offering anything like VOIP, or b) it's waiting for Rev B. Unfortunately, my money's on A. Well, at least you can use the browser to access Meebo. That's presuming that Apple doesn't do something with the browser like disable the ability to use the microphone into the browser session. From a coding perspective, that's trivial and would make sense so they would not step on the toes of their partner. Don't expect any VoIP to work; that's a danger to Cingular's business model and will lead to the dissolution of their partnership incredibly quickly.
I won't be buying an iPhone... at least not in the incarnation that seems inevitable at this point. I've spoken about it at length in my blog, and here on Slashdot... I will wait until Apple produces a product that won't. If I don't there are plenty of others who do... like E-Ten, HTC etc.
1) 3G. OK, so it will be there for Europe. Are you sure? Apple has made no announcement about that. You're guessing, making an assumption based on the fact that 2.5G devices don't sell well in Europe. 3G is still a big deal for me with a device such as this; it's very "data-heavy" device and really NEEDS a 3G network to take full advantage of the device.
2) "piss poor" apps. Yes, they are, but you misquoted me. I said the Internet connection was piss poor, not the applications. Just because I've hacked together a solution for myself doesn't make it a piss poor app. Yes, it's not meant for the end user and it's not highly flexible. It doesn't need to be; it's my app for my phone that fits my needs. I never had the intention of selling it. And as for your phone, maybe it's just getting old. My MPX-220 has actually improved with age. When I first bought it, I had to reboot it weekly in order to keep it running. I can't at this point remember the last time I rebooted it, it's been so long ago. Of course, my experiences with Sony-Ericsson phones to date has been abysmal; they have no lasting power whatsoever. My wife's last phone was an SE, and I paid decent money for it. What I received was a rather chintzy plastic-clad piece of crap that had antenna problems after just 6 months and finally gave up the ghost after 9. I swore I'd never buy another SE device, and even though they replaced it under warranty it's still sitting in the box upstairs as my "emergency backup" phone. Oh, and their customer and tech support service suck.
As for the whole open platform ideal; well I'd rather have something I can be flexible with. As I mentioned in my original post, some of my customers have unique needs of mobile devices that cannot be met with off-the-shelf software. If I can't develop it myself, or sub out the development to another third-party company (depending upon complexity) and I can't buy it off the shelf, then the device has just halved it's usefulness to myself and my customers. The MPX-220 I bought in part because it was a way of demonstrating a smartphone platform to my clients. Many of them bought based upon that platform (though usually not the specific device I have) and use them happily to this day. If iPhone doesn't provide support for third-party apps that are installable and removable with ease, then it's not going to be demonstrated to my clients and another device will fill that void.
Don't get me wrong, I hope Apple's position on this changes before release. If it does, I might still consider buying one (I DO like the interface). I just hope that by posting about it someone will notice. Yeah I know, don't get my hopes up:)
3) Usability as a feature. Yes, I agree... but the Motorola SLVR is quite usable too. Even my non-tech-savvy wife is quite comfortable with it and thinks it's the best phone she's ever owned. The iPhone does look easy to use in a sense. It certainly changes a few ways of doing things, but I'm not sure it's enough... yet. I'll wait and see on that one, and wait until I've actually had my paws on one and used it.
4) OpenMoko. Your comments are true, I don't like the GUI, either. But that's the point of OM... it's open. As such, you can change the GUI... you can change the apps... you can do whatever you like with the platform.
5) Cameras. Well, maybe the camera is a killer app for some... but I've yet to find a camera that can take even reasonably acceptable pictures by my admittedly high standards. I am fussy about my pictures, they are very important to me. There's no way to get a real decent lens into a device as small as a cellphone, it just won't happen. Best you can hope for in a phone camera is "quality webcam" pictures, but even then the acuity and color just isn't there on anything I've seen to-date. I pay good money for a decent digital camera because the pictures I take are important to me. I even treated myself to a digital SLR for Christmas for my hobby of taking pictures... mostly landscapes but I have done a couple of wedd
I must admit I liked the iPhone at first. I thought it had real potential, but here's why I for one won't be buying one;
1) 3G is a BIG DEAL. Anyone who's used it can tell you that. Especially for a device like this that's so data-centric I can't believe they are using EDGE. EDGE is a piss-poor replacement for 3G which only got implemented in this country because it was cheaper than a real rollout of 3G. Wake me when iPhone supports it... or when it actually manages to download an entire web page, whichever comes first.
2) Closed platform. Hello? What? Come on, even Microsoft's Windows Mobile is an open platform in the sense that third-party apps can be installed. Hell, my MPX-220 has about a dozen third-party apps installed, at least 4 or 5 of which I use *every single day*. My phone also contains a couple of hacked together apps of my own that use the (admittedly piss-poor) data connection to grab Internet data while I'm on the road that's useful to me. Hell, I even have an IM client that's open enough to have multiple providers. Also, I develop on mobile platforms for the disabled. Currently the darling of the disabled (especially deaf) is the Blackberry but they're all coming up for replacment soon because they're expensive to maintain the Exchange servers. They're looking for alternatives... without the ability to run third-party apps I'm afraid that the iPhone is a toy for the rich geek. I guess I'll be selling them on the OpenMoko.
3) Dumb Phone at a Smartphone Price. What does the iPhone do that my wife's Motorola SLVR doesn't? Do I hear crickets? OK, so it can store more than 100 iTunes songs. BFD. My wife doesn't NEED more than 100 songs... she hooks it up to charge it on the USB every night, what's stopping her switching out her active playlist dependent on her mood? She does that today... she doesn't need 500 songs on her phone... just enough to get through a day. Calendaring? Nope... SLVR does that. Photos? Oooh, try again. Contacts? Hell, all of the functionality I saw is available today in phones 1/6 of the price. OK... the Google Maps stuff is kinda cool, but if you have an open platform (like the OpenMoko.... look it up if you don't believe me) and the open API that Google Maps provides, how long until everyone else replicates the functionality?
The only thing the iPhone has going for it is eye candy... and that will get old really quick. Come on, hands up... how many people reading this comment who run Windows XP actually still have all the eye candy turned on? Same for Gnome... hell, same for OSX. Eye candy is cool for all of a day, then it starts to get wearing. The transitions get turned off and the eye candy goes away except for those people who just HAVE to show off their expensive device.
I've mentioned it twice; the OpenMoko platform is going to give this phone a run for its money. It's going to be available before the iPhone and will be an extensible and open platform. I for one will be buying one of the first-gen devices because I want to develop for it. It doesn't have the camera, or the tilt sensors... neither of which are things I need anyway. It'll be the first of many devices based on the platform... and since it's open anything I develop should work on the next gen devices... or at most require a recompile. Oh, and the screen resolution is higher.
I thought at first I'd buy an iPhone, but the more I've heard about the limitations of the device the sadder I've become. And as regards TFA; I read them. I usually like Daniel Ehran's rants, even if I don't agree with them... but his site is one I check out. But his defense of the iPhone is fanboyism at its worst. He thinks just because it comes from Apple it can do no wrong. Sorry, I am a Mac user and I like Apple, but even I admit they make mistakes. The iPhone isn't on my list of "has to have" geek toys, and won't be. I'll probably replace my phone with the first OpenMoko device out there, I'll develop my apps and I'll sell my customers on the benefits of an open, extensible, flexible platform based
So with all these idle hands and idle minds, what's stopping them from releasing their creations freely? You know, like I do? Yeah, I write music as a sideline and release it on the Modarchive... under a different name. I don't make any money from it, but do receive kudos by email often. That's my payment, and I like it that way.
You know, like a lot of people do.
This topic is never going to reach a conclusion. To be honest, if the music you want is DRM protected then you have to adapt and use the DRM'd media or find a workaround. There *are* other choices out there, there are media sources that have nothing to do with DRM.
Me personally, I have no problem with a DECENT IMPLEMENTATION OF DRM. Philosophically I have no problem with it at all, it's just an updated variation on what the media producers have been trying to foist on us for years. Now, in the last decade or so we've become used to having media "for free" thanks to digital distribution. The free ride is effectively over for commercial media, they're taking back their media and I think they're making huge mistakes in the implementation and enforcement of what they perceive as "their" media.
Thing is, there will always be free media that's good. I listen to a lot of classical music... hell, I play a lot of classical music because no-one can effectively claim rights to most of it. I also listen to independent music which is often a lot better than the crap that RIAA companies are churning out. I use iTMS for my commercial music because I don't find their DRM overly onerous, but even then I don't buy much music from iTMS. If I want MP3 versions on my MythTV box it's trivial to strip off the DRM with an app like jHymn, or just burn to CD and re-rip (which creates some loss, but not overly so).
I don't necessarily support DRM, but I recognize that some people view a need for it. I will accept it so long as it doesn't prevent me from using what I have paid for. Vista, I have a problem with. I think its DRM schemes are very onerous and troublesome, as such I will not install it. If my media requires it... well I'll just find my media elsewhere. I am not "faithful" to a band or label, I listen to music I like. If I am being prevented from listening to the music I like, I'll find someone else that creates similar music. They're out there, it just takes a little legwork.
The DRM prevents me from doing nothing *that I would wish to do*. That's my point. I have no intention of watching those few episodes of Heroes I have on my laptop, because my MythTV box happens to also record them from the TV. I use iTMS videos just to keep up with stuff or have something to watch on my Apple laptop when I'm out of town on business. Even that, it's not very often.
You used the Zune as an example, I just showed you that your example was invalid.
Besides, if I wanted to do you actually realize how trivial it is to have an application that will transcode those episodes into open formats? I would have spent less time doing so than I have replying to this post. They're freely available and google-able. Enjoy. Now, I'm not an average consumer so YMMV.
I am not a fool, I just accept that the world is changing and I have to adapt with it. Sure, I can object and "stand up for my principles", but as I mentioned in other posts I have other things in life that I think are significantly more important than how I have my media delivered to me. No matter how much we vocalize on a place like Slashdot, we are not going to change this world that's coming without having funding and backing to "get the word out". This isn't going to happen. Even then, the "word" would be muddled and incomprehensible to the average Joe consumer and will be denounced as FUD by those same corporations who are trying to get their own word out about DRM.
All of this is pretty much moot anyway. I'd rather go see a live band than buy music on iTMS or even buy a CD. For live entertainment I'd rather go out and be entertained or make my own. I watch like three shows on TV, the rest of the time I'd rather live life. Remember kids, real life has no DRM.
Hmm... strangely enough I don't have a Zune. Nor do I have the desire to buy one. I also don't have the desire to buy a video iPod (I have a nano) because I don't have a need to watch video on the road.
OK, to turn your argument around; try putting anything you bought from the Zune store on an iPod. Can't? Ooooh, sorry... you proved my point about corporations.
Oh, I think about watching my stuff on other devices (my MythTV box for example), but the videos I buy from iTMS are usually when I'm on the road (like episodes of Heroes) that I can then watch on my laptop in the hotel room, and if I really wanted them on my Myth box then there are plenty of tools to strip off the DRM and put it in standard formats. Maybe I'm too "Apple" in that I have an Apple laptop and an iPod, but I really don't care too much about Apple's DRM unless it gets in my way. It doesn't, so I don't.
Well, OK... another reason I switched is because I just wanted to have a Mac... and just get my work done:)
Your arguments are all valid... and I agree with you. Good philosophy. Sorry, I wasn't trying to "tar you with the brush" of being a Linux zealot... I was making a general comment. That probably didn't come out well in my verbage, though:)
I wasn't aware of the petition. Thing about petitions though is that they're only effective if they're bought to the attention of those who can make decisions... something that rarely really happens because most people who can make those kind of decisions are isolated from the public by enough minions that it's almost impossible to get their attention. Maybe someone can get Woz to present the petition directly to Jobs? That's probably the only way to realistically get any attention on the issue.
Although I still won't hold out too much hope. Apple is a platform company... as such they DO like to control every aspect. In some ways this is an asset (witness how well OSX works on Macs), but in some ways it does annoy me. Still, I agree with you; there are more critical issues in life to stress over:)
I use Linux as my main desktop OS. Enough said. So did I until 6 months ago. Part of the reason I changed? Because I accept the fact that we're going to live in a DRM world. There's nothing stopping someone from writing a DRM playback client for Linux using (gasp, shock, horror) a binary playback module developed by Apple. The purists who hate the idea of binary-only code in Linux are the ones who are going to kill it as a desktop. The average user doesn't give a monkeys, they just want to play back their media. You may point out that Apple hasn't produced such a module... well... has anyone asked them to?
Sure, open media is the goal but as long as we live in this litiginous, corporate-controlled society we're never going to get it. Like it or not, DRM is something the corporations want, and the corporations will get. The people who are diametrically opposed to this philosophy are a very small minority of the buying public... like small enough that the corporations don't really care about annoying you. You won't buy their wares? They don't care. You write flaming articles on your blogs about the evils of DRM and how it should be opened? They don't care. As long as they can sell their wares openly to a large enough percentage of the population then they really don't care.
Hey, I may not like the DRM-encumbered world much either. I actually hate the concept in general... but that doesn't mean I won't accept it and move on. There are more crucial things that demand my attention and can take up my life than worrying about the encoding or encryption of a media file. As long as the media I want is using Apple-type DRM then I'll tend to probably buy Apple equipment to play it back until someone else license the technology.
DRM is not inherently evil, but often implementations are troublesome or onerous.
I probably sound like an Apple apologist here, but to be honest I have no problem with the relatively weak DRM included on iTMS songs or movies. They don't prevent me from watching, they don't prevent me from copying (within reason) and I really believe that the DRM inherent in iTMS and by extension iTunes is not a problem.
OK, some people may have a huge problem with DRM philosophically. I must admit, I am not over the moon about the whole idea either but the DRM world is one that we are going to live in whether we like it or not. If we have to accept DRM, then it shouldn't be overly onerous. I think that Apple's implementations are as "consumer-friendly" as you're likely to find. They don't prevent me from using my purchased media, and I don't get the feeling that Apple can "turn off my music" at whim just becuase I changed my registered card number at iTMS. Besides, it's simple to work around with even lossless conversions. I know, I've converted stuff in the past... but generally my purchased iTMS music remains "DRM encumbered" and I have no problems sharing it with my wife's computer or my daughter's iPod as well as my own iPod. The only reason I sometimes convert said music is so I can put a copy on my MythTV box so I can have it when I want to play music on that.
I disagree. It gives me freedom. If I want to change to T-Mobile next month, I can without a contract or having to get out of a contract. If I then want to switch back to Cingular a month later I can. Hell, if I want to drop Cingular altogether and pick up a "pay as you go" SIM, I can do that too. Not having a contract frees me from having to bother with it.
Yes, I pay a premium for the phone by US standards, but not by worldwide standards. I buy phones the same way the rest of the world does; without subsidies and contracts and I like it that way. I'd rather do that than have a subsidized phone that I am then locked into a two-year contract with Cingular or T-Mobile or (insert carrier here). The way the US cell market works is completely jacked up in my opinion.
Plus not having a contract frees me in another way; if I decide to up and move to England (an option that has been considered recently in my household) I don't have a "boat anchor" of a contract around my leg which I end up having to pay some stupid fee just to get out of. If I'm going to all the trouble of moving to another country I don't have to worry about it. Hell, if I'm moving within the US to a city which has crappy Cingular coverage, I want to be able to use a local provider as much as possible. You see the logic, here?
As I said in my original post; a modern cellphone is an investment to me in the sense that I buy premium phones and expect them to last at minimum 2 years. The MPX220 has been a great device that has lasted really well and has served me extremely well. It'll hit its third birthday in 3Q of this year, so right there the investment in the device makes sense to me. The iPhone will be out by then, and probably there will be unlocked devices starting to appear at about that time that I can purchase at unsubbed retail. Yes, I'll use it on Cingular's network because I have no complaints about their recent service, but I don't see why I should be forced to do so. If the unlocked iPhones are not available by then... well, the MPX220 has served me well so far and shows few signs of its age. It's still a fast and reliable device and a good phone, and I'll keep using it until a suitable replacement presents itself (or the iPhone is unlocked).
I don't use credit cards for the same reasons mentioned above; I don't agree with them in principle and therefore don't use them. I view cell contracts in the same way; they're a drag on me personally and a problem for me financially. Therefore, I do things my way.
Have you seen what Cingular charges for international roaming? Plus, when I'm in England typically I want to talk to my family (I'm British, just living in the US), so it's a LOT cheaper to do a local call both ways than international.
Trust me, foreign SIMs are by far the cheapest solution. The fact that I've then got a different phone number also helps; in England I'm usually on vacation and don't want to hear from any of my colleagues at work when a crisis arises:D
Well, first of all I like the device. I think it looks like exactly what I need to replace my aging MPX220... but probably not until next year.
Why? Well, first of all there's the issue of locking. OK, so I use Cingular... but I'll be damned if I'm going to sign another contract with them to get this phone for $599. That's not because I'm balking at the price... I don't like to be locked to a provider. The last 4 cellphones I've purchased were all unlocked GSM phones. I pay more for them, but I get to use them wherever and whenever I want. That way when I fly to England (which I'll be doing again this year) I can pick up a Virgin Mobile SIM at the airport (or more often in London... they're cheaper there) and just pay as I go with a UK phone number for the duration of my trip. Plus then I have my regular contacts, calendar and stuff with me (not to mention my eBooks).
I'm no on a contract with Cingular, but I stick with them today because they provide me decent coverage, decent service and don't really seem to care what kind of phone I attach to their network.
Now, to those who ARE balking at the price with a 2-year contract... well this is a smartphone. As such, compare it to smartphones, not to the standard handsets. Even devices such as the SLVR don't compare despite their limited music-playing capability because the Apple phone is going to be a smartphone in the same way that the current PDA phones are. It just runs OSX instead of Windows CE or Palm. The price is about in-the-range that you'd expect to pay. For an unlocked phone, expect around $200-$250 more.
Now will I pay $850 for the phone I want? Probably. I paid about $500 for my MPX220 and I've had it for two years so far. 3 years out of that investment I think is reasonable... given inflation over the last couple of years I think I can justify $850 for my next three-year investment in a decent cellphone. The fact that it'll replace my MPX220 and iPod Nano at the same time, as well as give me an OSX based system is just the icing on the cake for me.
I like this comment because I am a Second Life user, builder and scripter. I enjoy it, but only as a pastime.
I must say that I think this is a good thing (the opening of the client) especially because the SL client is a REALLY bad multi-threader. On a multi-core CPU (a Macbook Pro, both under Windows and OSX) it runs one core up to 80% or so constantly and leaves the other core essentially idle. This is according to Menumeters CPU gauge which I have constantly running (backed up with info from Activity Monitor) under OSX and TaskMgr under Windows. Sure, threading it might not help under some circumstances... but I have seen it peak out the core on some occasions (especially in a busy area). Maybe some coders can find some nice ways to thread some of the processing and make it a bit more efficient on this architecture.
I'd also be extremely interested in a different object-building interface. How about a dedicated object-building client? That would be incredibly cool... being able to build objects (even offline?) and then put them into the SL world. I think that with some of the great modeling tools that are out there we can have some great clients for creating some really cool stuff in the SL world. And being able to focus just on the object you're building would be incredibly cool as well; I constantly battle trying to select multiple objects when trying to link them and end up selecting some background object, or even my avatar and having to deselect that as well. Really frustrating.
I think this opening of the code is a great thing. Let's hope there are enough interested parties to make some really good use of it.
I suspect you're right though. I do know a few people who, like me just like to create in SL for the sake of creating. However, I fear that we really are a minority, but seem to be a growing minority. The people who take SL REALLY seriously? Well, I tend to avoid them. I don't really understand why people would pay real money for virtual sex among other things, but I do understand that some people do make money out of Second Life. I'm not one of them; I have a very good First Life that takes a lot more of my attention, time and in my opinion is much more rewarding. I *do* use it as a chat engine sometimes so I can converse with people and "meet" other people but I'm aware as I was on IRC that these people are usually just manifestations of an idealized personality. They're rarely consistent with who they are in real life, though I personally try to be. Still, it can be fun to chat with people from around the globe who play SL, and offering someone help when they're new to get on their feet in Second Life has rewards beyond monetary... but it's still a game, and it's still something that I view as such.
I realize that my content that I create in Second Life could be trashed by a server or database crash. Then again, if I were a sculptor in wood then that would be just as susceptible to fire (as are my drawings). However, I do "back them up" in that I screenshot the things I like and keep them around for my own edification.
I agree with you; SL is not some glorious be-all-and-end-all. It's an interesting experiment in virtual realities and nothing more. The technology to fully realize it as a virtual world doesn't exist, and probably won't in our lifetimes. I can see uses for virtual worlds like SL in the future, particularly in the realms of virtual prototyping bought down to the consumer level. However, I don't think it's a high and glorious goal as you put it, either.
Anshe? Well, she found a niche in SL. Good for her. I hope she realizes that her virtual empire could easily vanish overnight if Linden Labs goes out of business. That's not beyond the realms of possibility; LL is a company that relies on its paying customers to survive. So long as they have increasing expenses (which they will as demands on their systems increase) they will continue to have real-world costs that will escalate. Today, I'd say only a small fraction of the users of Second Life are actually paying customers... maybe 2-3%, if even. Most people just use the free accounts to explore, maybe pay some real life money into the system so that they can buy accessories for their avatars. This money goes directly to the seller. Unless Linden Labs starts "taxing" every transaction I can't see how they can continue to stay ahead of the cost of doing business. And if they start doing that, a lot of the sellers who actually pay money into Linden will probably quit in disgust... and there will be fewer buyers. I think the economy of Second Life is unsustainable, but I'm willing to believe I could be proved wrong.
I think if Anshe Chung has an issue with ANYONE, it's CNET. They failed to turn off public rezzing of items and scripts in their area, therefore they failed to take reasonable measures to prevent this attack. The video is a straw man... it'd happen in RL as well if someone "crashed" a live interview throwing hot-dogs across the stage. It doesn't happen much during professional interviews because security is usually tight. This simple switch on the land owned by CNET would have prevented this attack. By failing to do so, they're liable by failing to secure their land from such an attack.
Yeah, I realize the griefer himself was in the wrong as well, but he actually just didn't take Chung as seriously as she apparently takes herself. Honestly, I couldn't care less and I'm not a griefer, but I actually found it rather amusing.
This comment I agree with... and that's as someone who enjoys Second Life.
I actually had this discussion recently on a board online with a topic around Second Life and how it's defined. The entire conversation sparked from me talking about my experiences in Second Life and I just happened to use the word "game". I know you're going to believe this; but there were actually people who started flaming me (albeit in a lucid and well thought-out fashion) for calling Second Life a game rather than some other phrase such as "Virtual Experience" or some other crap. That actually just blew me away!
I hope I never get to that point with SL. As it stands it's a nice distraction every now and again in much the same way as other people own a gaming console and play that. I don't have a game console... my son does but I rarely play it unless I'm playing with him. Generally I'm not interested in games unless I can pick them up, play them for fifteen minutes and be entertained, then shut them down again until I feel like playing them again. Believe it or not, my Mac is a great platform for this with lots of free games installed (Chopper, Lunar Jetman... that sort of stuff). Second Life is the one exception I have. As I posted elsewhere I like the social aspect in the same way as I enjoyed IRC many moons ago. I also enjoy the creativity it gives me; it's a 3D modeling engine I can use to create 3D artwork I can give to others. I don't sell my wares, I don't see the point.
Some people do take Second Life to an extreme. From my perspective it's a game; something that can distract me for an hour or so here and there. Sometimes (like recently) I'll be online a lot... I've been sick and unable to do much except play with Second Life. But real-life is still where it's at for me.
It's funny really. I recently met a guy who knew me through my Livejournal (no, no link) where I sometimes talk about my experiences in Second Life. One of the first things he mentioned was that I was nothing like he expected. He told me he'd expected me to have a beard like a hedgerow and weigh 300lbs or so because that was his experience of Second Lifers so far. I don't believe that's true of all SL players, but he was actually quite shocked to find I was almost half the man he was expecting (170lbs, clean shaven and wearing khakis and a trenchcoat that evening). I do often wonder how many SLers acutally do meet his perceived notion... and I do wonder how many WoWers fit that description too... especially since all the WoWers I know DO fit that description.
As a content creator in second life, who doesn't sell my wares I have to say you're sort of missing the point a little. It exists to waste time? Only if you consider creation of artwork also a waste of time. To me, Second Life is a 3D canvas that appeals to my inner geek as well as allows me to create artwork in 3 dimensions that I can let other people view. I also allow limited copying of my works so other people can enjoy them. To me that's not a waste of time; it's doing art for art's sake.
I've always had a sketch pad in my laptop bag. I doodle, I draw, I write. I don't intend to sell any of those works but friends of mine often comment that I could if I really wanted to apply myself to it. But I choose not to. Is that a waste of time, too? Just because I don't make a living off my drawings (or my occasional paintings), but I enjoy them and occasionally give them away or copy them for friends. That's what I do in Second Life, too. It just happens those friends often live nowhere close to me.
I don't like most online games... I don't enjoy the rigid structure and limiting world. I enjoy freedom to do what I want... that's why I draw, paint and write. That's why I build things in Second Life I think people will want to see and enjoy. I played Eve Online for a while but eventually found it more boring than Second Life. And more expensive in real-life money. I also enjoy the social aspect of Second Life in the same way I enjoyed IRC over a decade ago and made friends who are still my friends to this day and helped me move to another country.
Although back on topic, I severely disagree with Anshe Cheung and her actions with the DMCA. That's a bad precedent to set and I hope it gets shot down in flames. Yes, there are griefers in Second Life (people who do the sort of thing shown in the video). Hell, I've been a victim of griefing attacks as well. The best thing to do is ignore them. They're bullies, plain and simple.
As a Windows and Linux user also, I am used to the right mouse button. That's why when I bought my Macbook Pro I bought a Bluetooth mouse to go with it. Takes me all of about ten seconds to pull that out of my laptop bag if I need it, or I'll just "suffer" with CTRL-CLICK (can't quite get the two-fingers-click thing down yet, need practice).
Microsoft's customers would rather pay for competent technical support.
Programming is not their competence, the internals of an OS is something they have no desire to muck with, ever.
Thank you... couldn't have put it better myself. Note this is also true for Apple customers most of whom probably wouldn't know source code if it bit them on the arse. At least, that's historically true.
I have little desire to muck with the source code from OSX, even though I do write some small applications that I compile under the OS. The API layer is extremely well documented and the development tools are quite frankly amazing compared to Microsoft's offering (and you have to pay for that!)
As for the support issue, my recent experiences with Apple tech support have been a little mixed, but generally very good. The phone support was excellent, efficient... and turnaround for a laptop repair was three days from shipment to return. Excellent in my book. The support at the "Genius Bar" at the retail store... not so good. But having said that, at least I had the OPTION of retail support for my laptop and OS. Try getting that with a Dell... or even an HP laptop. Best Buy for example will generally look at simple hardware problems, then delegate to HP or Microsoft. Apple... it's one store, one phone number. Easy.
Brilliant. I didn't even notice this (and I spent several months working in Paris). The irony is the name isn't fictional... a friend of mine has exactly that name and he's going to get such a load of crap from me about this when I see him later.
Slashdot Mirror
Now the file manager looks like OSX Finder. This is thrilling, fantastic, wonderful...
Wait...
This is a good thing?
(and this from a self-confesssed Mac addict)
I'm really excited about New Horizons. It's a really exciting mission that almost didn't get the support it needed. If you do some Googling you can find out the full story about it.
:)
Hell, I know Pluto isn't considered a planet... but that to me makes NH even more exciting. Pluto is a large KBO (Kuiper Belt Object) and as such has the potential to be a very early remnant of the formation of our solar system. As such, investigating this object and Charon, it's "moon" has the potential to teach us far more about the early existence of the solar system than investigating many other objects. To be honest, I'm MORE excited about a trip to a relatively unknown and uncharted object such as a KBO than I would be over the exploration of another planet (despite the fact that these are arbitrary designations at best)
The NEAR mission was fascinating for the same reason. It was investigation of a relatively unknown object and we learned far more about the nature of asteroids and other deep space objects during that mission than we ever thought possible. If NH even returns half of the information about Pluto that NEAR returned about the asteroid Eros then we will learn an incredible amount about our solar system, and maybe change a few models about solar system formation that might just change some minds.
Good show, NASA. Sometimes you're the butt of a lot of jokes, but there are times you manage some truly remarkable missions (the mars rovers for one) that increase our understanding of the universe and just really excite science geeks like me
I won't be buying an iPhone... at least not in the incarnation that seems inevitable at this point. I've spoken about it at length in my blog, and here on Slashdot... I will wait until Apple produces a product that won't. If I don't there are plenty of others who do... like E-Ten, HTC etc.
1) 3G. OK, so it will be there for Europe. Are you sure? Apple has made no announcement about that. You're guessing, making an assumption based on the fact that 2.5G devices don't sell well in Europe. 3G is still a big deal for me with a device such as this; it's very "data-heavy" device and really NEEDS a 3G network to take full advantage of the device.
:)
2) "piss poor" apps. Yes, they are, but you misquoted me. I said the Internet connection was piss poor, not the applications. Just because I've hacked together a solution for myself doesn't make it a piss poor app. Yes, it's not meant for the end user and it's not highly flexible. It doesn't need to be; it's my app for my phone that fits my needs. I never had the intention of selling it. And as for your phone, maybe it's just getting old. My MPX-220 has actually improved with age. When I first bought it, I had to reboot it weekly in order to keep it running. I can't at this point remember the last time I rebooted it, it's been so long ago. Of course, my experiences with Sony-Ericsson phones to date has been abysmal; they have no lasting power whatsoever. My wife's last phone was an SE, and I paid decent money for it. What I received was a rather chintzy plastic-clad piece of crap that had antenna problems after just 6 months and finally gave up the ghost after 9. I swore I'd never buy another SE device, and even though they replaced it under warranty it's still sitting in the box upstairs as my "emergency backup" phone. Oh, and their customer and tech support service suck.
As for the whole open platform ideal; well I'd rather have something I can be flexible with. As I mentioned in my original post, some of my customers have unique needs of mobile devices that cannot be met with off-the-shelf software. If I can't develop it myself, or sub out the development to another third-party company (depending upon complexity) and I can't buy it off the shelf, then the device has just halved it's usefulness to myself and my customers. The MPX-220 I bought in part because it was a way of demonstrating a smartphone platform to my clients. Many of them bought based upon that platform (though usually not the specific device I have) and use them happily to this day. If iPhone doesn't provide support for third-party apps that are installable and removable with ease, then it's not going to be demonstrated to my clients and another device will fill that void.
Don't get me wrong, I hope Apple's position on this changes before release. If it does, I might still consider buying one (I DO like the interface). I just hope that by posting about it someone will notice. Yeah I know, don't get my hopes up
3) Usability as a feature. Yes, I agree... but the Motorola SLVR is quite usable too. Even my non-tech-savvy wife is quite comfortable with it and thinks it's the best phone she's ever owned. The iPhone does look easy to use in a sense. It certainly changes a few ways of doing things, but I'm not sure it's enough... yet. I'll wait and see on that one, and wait until I've actually had my paws on one and used it.
4) OpenMoko. Your comments are true, I don't like the GUI, either. But that's the point of OM... it's open. As such, you can change the GUI... you can change the apps... you can do whatever you like with the platform.
5) Cameras. Well, maybe the camera is a killer app for some... but I've yet to find a camera that can take even reasonably acceptable pictures by my admittedly high standards. I am fussy about my pictures, they are very important to me. There's no way to get a real decent lens into a device as small as a cellphone, it just won't happen. Best you can hope for in a phone camera is "quality webcam" pictures, but even then the acuity and color just isn't there on anything I've seen to-date. I pay good money for a decent digital camera because the pictures I take are important to me. I even treated myself to a digital SLR for Christmas for my hobby of taking pictures... mostly landscapes but I have done a couple of wedd
I must admit I liked the iPhone at first. I thought it had real potential, but here's why I for one won't be buying one;
1) 3G is a BIG DEAL. Anyone who's used it can tell you that. Especially for a device like this that's so data-centric I can't believe they are using EDGE. EDGE is a piss-poor replacement for 3G which only got implemented in this country because it was cheaper than a real rollout of 3G. Wake me when iPhone supports it... or when it actually manages to download an entire web page, whichever comes first.
2) Closed platform. Hello? What? Come on, even Microsoft's Windows Mobile is an open platform in the sense that third-party apps can be installed. Hell, my MPX-220 has about a dozen third-party apps installed, at least 4 or 5 of which I use *every single day*. My phone also contains a couple of hacked together apps of my own that use the (admittedly piss-poor) data connection to grab Internet data while I'm on the road that's useful to me. Hell, I even have an IM client that's open enough to have multiple providers. Also, I develop on mobile platforms for the disabled. Currently the darling of the disabled (especially deaf) is the Blackberry but they're all coming up for replacment soon because they're expensive to maintain the Exchange servers. They're looking for alternatives... without the ability to run third-party apps I'm afraid that the iPhone is a toy for the rich geek. I guess I'll be selling them on the OpenMoko.
3) Dumb Phone at a Smartphone Price. What does the iPhone do that my wife's Motorola SLVR doesn't? Do I hear crickets? OK, so it can store more than 100 iTunes songs. BFD. My wife doesn't NEED more than 100 songs... she hooks it up to charge it on the USB every night, what's stopping her switching out her active playlist dependent on her mood? She does that today... she doesn't need 500 songs on her phone... just enough to get through a day. Calendaring? Nope... SLVR does that. Photos? Oooh, try again. Contacts? Hell, all of the functionality I saw is available today in phones 1/6 of the price. OK... the Google Maps stuff is kinda cool, but if you have an open platform (like the OpenMoko.... look it up if you don't believe me) and the open API that Google Maps provides, how long until everyone else replicates the functionality?
The only thing the iPhone has going for it is eye candy... and that will get old really quick. Come on, hands up... how many people reading this comment who run Windows XP actually still have all the eye candy turned on? Same for Gnome... hell, same for OSX. Eye candy is cool for all of a day, then it starts to get wearing. The transitions get turned off and the eye candy goes away except for those people who just HAVE to show off their expensive device.
I've mentioned it twice; the OpenMoko platform is going to give this phone a run for its money. It's going to be available before the iPhone and will be an extensible and open platform. I for one will be buying one of the first-gen devices because I want to develop for it. It doesn't have the camera, or the tilt sensors... neither of which are things I need anyway. It'll be the first of many devices based on the platform... and since it's open anything I develop should work on the next gen devices... or at most require a recompile. Oh, and the screen resolution is higher.
I thought at first I'd buy an iPhone, but the more I've heard about the limitations of the device the sadder I've become. And as regards TFA; I read them. I usually like Daniel Ehran's rants, even if I don't agree with them... but his site is one I check out. But his defense of the iPhone is fanboyism at its worst. He thinks just because it comes from Apple it can do no wrong. Sorry, I am a Mac user and I like Apple, but even I admit they make mistakes. The iPhone isn't on my list of "has to have" geek toys, and won't be. I'll probably replace my phone with the first OpenMoko device out there, I'll develop my apps and I'll sell my customers on the benefits of an open, extensible, flexible platform based
So with all these idle hands and idle minds, what's stopping them from releasing their creations freely? You know, like I do? Yeah, I write music as a sideline and release it on the Modarchive... under a different name. I don't make any money from it, but do receive kudos by email often. That's my payment, and I like it that way.
You know, like a lot of people do.
This topic is never going to reach a conclusion. To be honest, if the music you want is DRM protected then you have to adapt and use the DRM'd media or find a workaround. There *are* other choices out there, there are media sources that have nothing to do with DRM.
Me personally, I have no problem with a DECENT IMPLEMENTATION OF DRM. Philosophically I have no problem with it at all, it's just an updated variation on what the media producers have been trying to foist on us for years. Now, in the last decade or so we've become used to having media "for free" thanks to digital distribution. The free ride is effectively over for commercial media, they're taking back their media and I think they're making huge mistakes in the implementation and enforcement of what they perceive as "their" media.
Thing is, there will always be free media that's good. I listen to a lot of classical music... hell, I play a lot of classical music because no-one can effectively claim rights to most of it. I also listen to independent music which is often a lot better than the crap that RIAA companies are churning out. I use iTMS for my commercial music because I don't find their DRM overly onerous, but even then I don't buy much music from iTMS. If I want MP3 versions on my MythTV box it's trivial to strip off the DRM with an app like jHymn, or just burn to CD and re-rip (which creates some loss, but not overly so).
I don't necessarily support DRM, but I recognize that some people view a need for it. I will accept it so long as it doesn't prevent me from using what I have paid for. Vista, I have a problem with. I think its DRM schemes are very onerous and troublesome, as such I will not install it. If my media requires it... well I'll just find my media elsewhere. I am not "faithful" to a band or label, I listen to music I like. If I am being prevented from listening to the music I like, I'll find someone else that creates similar music. They're out there, it just takes a little legwork.
The DRM prevents me from doing nothing *that I would wish to do*. That's my point. I have no intention of watching those few episodes of Heroes I have on my laptop, because my MythTV box happens to also record them from the TV. I use iTMS videos just to keep up with stuff or have something to watch on my Apple laptop when I'm out of town on business. Even that, it's not very often.
You used the Zune as an example, I just showed you that your example was invalid.
Besides, if I wanted to do you actually realize how trivial it is to have an application that will transcode those episodes into open formats? I would have spent less time doing so than I have replying to this post. They're freely available and google-able. Enjoy. Now, I'm not an average consumer so YMMV.
I am not a fool, I just accept that the world is changing and I have to adapt with it. Sure, I can object and "stand up for my principles", but as I mentioned in other posts I have other things in life that I think are significantly more important than how I have my media delivered to me. No matter how much we vocalize on a place like Slashdot, we are not going to change this world that's coming without having funding and backing to "get the word out". This isn't going to happen. Even then, the "word" would be muddled and incomprehensible to the average Joe consumer and will be denounced as FUD by those same corporations who are trying to get their own word out about DRM.
All of this is pretty much moot anyway. I'd rather go see a live band than buy music on iTMS or even buy a CD. For live entertainment I'd rather go out and be entertained or make my own. I watch like three shows on TV, the rest of the time I'd rather live life. Remember kids, real life has no DRM.
Hmm... strangely enough I don't have a Zune. Nor do I have the desire to buy one. I also don't have the desire to buy a video iPod (I have a nano) because I don't have a need to watch video on the road.
OK, to turn your argument around; try putting anything you bought from the Zune store on an iPod. Can't? Ooooh, sorry... you proved my point about corporations.
Oh, I think about watching my stuff on other devices (my MythTV box for example), but the videos I buy from iTMS are usually when I'm on the road (like episodes of Heroes) that I can then watch on my laptop in the hotel room, and if I really wanted them on my Myth box then there are plenty of tools to strip off the DRM and put it in standard formats. Maybe I'm too "Apple" in that I have an Apple laptop and an iPod, but I really don't care too much about Apple's DRM unless it gets in my way. It doesn't, so I don't.
Well, OK... another reason I switched is because I just wanted to have a Mac... and just get my work done :)
:)
:)
Your arguments are all valid... and I agree with you. Good philosophy. Sorry, I wasn't trying to "tar you with the brush" of being a Linux zealot... I was making a general comment. That probably didn't come out well in my verbage, though
I wasn't aware of the petition. Thing about petitions though is that they're only effective if they're bought to the attention of those who can make decisions... something that rarely really happens because most people who can make those kind of decisions are isolated from the public by enough minions that it's almost impossible to get their attention. Maybe someone can get Woz to present the petition directly to Jobs? That's probably the only way to realistically get any attention on the issue.
Although I still won't hold out too much hope. Apple is a platform company... as such they DO like to control every aspect. In some ways this is an asset (witness how well OSX works on Macs), but in some ways it does annoy me. Still, I agree with you; there are more critical issues in life to stress over
Sure, open media is the goal but as long as we live in this litiginous, corporate-controlled society we're never going to get it. Like it or not, DRM is something the corporations want, and the corporations will get. The people who are diametrically opposed to this philosophy are a very small minority of the buying public... like small enough that the corporations don't really care about annoying you. You won't buy their wares? They don't care. You write flaming articles on your blogs about the evils of DRM and how it should be opened? They don't care. As long as they can sell their wares openly to a large enough percentage of the population then they really don't care.
Hey, I may not like the DRM-encumbered world much either. I actually hate the concept in general... but that doesn't mean I won't accept it and move on. There are more crucial things that demand my attention and can take up my life than worrying about the encoding or encryption of a media file. As long as the media I want is using Apple-type DRM then I'll tend to probably buy Apple equipment to play it back until someone else license the technology.
DRM is not inherently evil, but often implementations are troublesome or onerous.
I probably sound like an Apple apologist here, but to be honest I have no problem with the relatively weak DRM included on iTMS songs or movies. They don't prevent me from watching, they don't prevent me from copying (within reason) and I really believe that the DRM inherent in iTMS and by extension iTunes is not a problem.
OK, some people may have a huge problem with DRM philosophically. I must admit, I am not over the moon about the whole idea either but the DRM world is one that we are going to live in whether we like it or not. If we have to accept DRM, then it shouldn't be overly onerous. I think that Apple's implementations are as "consumer-friendly" as you're likely to find. They don't prevent me from using my purchased media, and I don't get the feeling that Apple can "turn off my music" at whim just becuase I changed my registered card number at iTMS. Besides, it's simple to work around with even lossless conversions. I know, I've converted stuff in the past... but generally my purchased iTMS music remains "DRM encumbered" and I have no problems sharing it with my wife's computer or my daughter's iPod as well as my own iPod. The only reason I sometimes convert said music is so I can put a copy on my MythTV box so I can have it when I want to play music on that.
All of course IMO.
When I find half a bug in my apple, I usually feel a little nauseous.
I disagree. It gives me freedom. If I want to change to T-Mobile next month, I can without a contract or having to get out of a contract. If I then want to switch back to Cingular a month later I can. Hell, if I want to drop Cingular altogether and pick up a "pay as you go" SIM, I can do that too. Not having a contract frees me from having to bother with it.
Yes, I pay a premium for the phone by US standards, but not by worldwide standards. I buy phones the same way the rest of the world does; without subsidies and contracts and I like it that way. I'd rather do that than have a subsidized phone that I am then locked into a two-year contract with Cingular or T-Mobile or (insert carrier here). The way the US cell market works is completely jacked up in my opinion.
Plus not having a contract frees me in another way; if I decide to up and move to England (an option that has been considered recently in my household) I don't have a "boat anchor" of a contract around my leg which I end up having to pay some stupid fee just to get out of. If I'm going to all the trouble of moving to another country I don't have to worry about it. Hell, if I'm moving within the US to a city which has crappy Cingular coverage, I want to be able to use a local provider as much as possible. You see the logic, here?
As I said in my original post; a modern cellphone is an investment to me in the sense that I buy premium phones and expect them to last at minimum 2 years. The MPX220 has been a great device that has lasted really well and has served me extremely well. It'll hit its third birthday in 3Q of this year, so right there the investment in the device makes sense to me. The iPhone will be out by then, and probably there will be unlocked devices starting to appear at about that time that I can purchase at unsubbed retail. Yes, I'll use it on Cingular's network because I have no complaints about their recent service, but I don't see why I should be forced to do so. If the unlocked iPhones are not available by then... well, the MPX220 has served me well so far and shows few signs of its age. It's still a fast and reliable device and a good phone, and I'll keep using it until a suitable replacement presents itself (or the iPhone is unlocked).
I don't use credit cards for the same reasons mentioned above; I don't agree with them in principle and therefore don't use them. I view cell contracts in the same way; they're a drag on me personally and a problem for me financially. Therefore, I do things my way.
Have you seen what Cingular charges for international roaming? Plus, when I'm in England typically I want to talk to my family (I'm British, just living in the US), so it's a LOT cheaper to do a local call both ways than international.
:D
Trust me, foreign SIMs are by far the cheapest solution. The fact that I've then got a different phone number also helps; in England I'm usually on vacation and don't want to hear from any of my colleagues at work when a crisis arises
Maybe. Must admit I LOLed when I read your response because I dumped Sprint for much the same reasons two and a half years ago :D
Well, first of all I like the device. I think it looks like exactly what I need to replace my aging MPX220... but probably not until next year.
Why? Well, first of all there's the issue of locking. OK, so I use Cingular... but I'll be damned if I'm going to sign another contract with them to get this phone for $599. That's not because I'm balking at the price... I don't like to be locked to a provider. The last 4 cellphones I've purchased were all unlocked GSM phones. I pay more for them, but I get to use them wherever and whenever I want. That way when I fly to England (which I'll be doing again this year) I can pick up a Virgin Mobile SIM at the airport (or more often in London... they're cheaper there) and just pay as I go with a UK phone number for the duration of my trip. Plus then I have my regular contacts, calendar and stuff with me (not to mention my eBooks).
I'm no on a contract with Cingular, but I stick with them today because they provide me decent coverage, decent service and don't really seem to care what kind of phone I attach to their network.
Now, to those who ARE balking at the price with a 2-year contract... well this is a smartphone. As such, compare it to smartphones, not to the standard handsets. Even devices such as the SLVR don't compare despite their limited music-playing capability because the Apple phone is going to be a smartphone in the same way that the current PDA phones are. It just runs OSX instead of Windows CE or Palm. The price is about in-the-range that you'd expect to pay. For an unlocked phone, expect around $200-$250 more.
Now will I pay $850 for the phone I want? Probably. I paid about $500 for my MPX220 and I've had it for two years so far. 3 years out of that investment I think is reasonable... given inflation over the last couple of years I think I can justify $850 for my next three-year investment in a decent cellphone. The fact that it'll replace my MPX220 and iPod Nano at the same time, as well as give me an OSX based system is just the icing on the cake for me.
I like this comment because I am a Second Life user, builder and scripter. I enjoy it, but only as a pastime.
I must say that I think this is a good thing (the opening of the client) especially because the SL client is a REALLY bad multi-threader. On a multi-core CPU (a Macbook Pro, both under Windows and OSX) it runs one core up to 80% or so constantly and leaves the other core essentially idle. This is according to Menumeters CPU gauge which I have constantly running (backed up with info from Activity Monitor) under OSX and TaskMgr under Windows. Sure, threading it might not help under some circumstances... but I have seen it peak out the core on some occasions (especially in a busy area). Maybe some coders can find some nice ways to thread some of the processing and make it a bit more efficient on this architecture.
I'd also be extremely interested in a different object-building interface. How about a dedicated object-building client? That would be incredibly cool... being able to build objects (even offline?) and then put them into the SL world. I think that with some of the great modeling tools that are out there we can have some great clients for creating some really cool stuff in the SL world. And being able to focus just on the object you're building would be incredibly cool as well; I constantly battle trying to select multiple objects when trying to link them and end up selecting some background object, or even my avatar and having to deselect that as well. Really frustrating.
I think this opening of the code is a great thing. Let's hope there are enough interested parties to make some really good use of it.
Thank you for your comments. I do appreciate it.
:)
I suspect you're right though. I do know a few people who, like me just like to create in SL for the sake of creating. However, I fear that we really are a minority, but seem to be a growing minority. The people who take SL REALLY seriously? Well, I tend to avoid them. I don't really understand why people would pay real money for virtual sex among other things, but I do understand that some people do make money out of Second Life. I'm not one of them; I have a very good First Life that takes a lot more of my attention, time and in my opinion is much more rewarding. I *do* use it as a chat engine sometimes so I can converse with people and "meet" other people but I'm aware as I was on IRC that these people are usually just manifestations of an idealized personality. They're rarely consistent with who they are in real life, though I personally try to be. Still, it can be fun to chat with people from around the globe who play SL, and offering someone help when they're new to get on their feet in Second Life has rewards beyond monetary... but it's still a game, and it's still something that I view as such.
I realize that my content that I create in Second Life could be trashed by a server or database crash. Then again, if I were a sculptor in wood then that would be just as susceptible to fire (as are my drawings). However, I do "back them up" in that I screenshot the things I like and keep them around for my own edification.
I agree with you; SL is not some glorious be-all-and-end-all. It's an interesting experiment in virtual realities and nothing more. The technology to fully realize it as a virtual world doesn't exist, and probably won't in our lifetimes. I can see uses for virtual worlds like SL in the future, particularly in the realms of virtual prototyping bought down to the consumer level. However, I don't think it's a high and glorious goal as you put it, either.
Anshe? Well, she found a niche in SL. Good for her. I hope she realizes that her virtual empire could easily vanish overnight if Linden Labs goes out of business. That's not beyond the realms of possibility; LL is a company that relies on its paying customers to survive. So long as they have increasing expenses (which they will as demands on their systems increase) they will continue to have real-world costs that will escalate. Today, I'd say only a small fraction of the users of Second Life are actually paying customers... maybe 2-3%, if even. Most people just use the free accounts to explore, maybe pay some real life money into the system so that they can buy accessories for their avatars. This money goes directly to the seller. Unless Linden Labs starts "taxing" every transaction I can't see how they can continue to stay ahead of the cost of doing business. And if they start doing that, a lot of the sellers who actually pay money into Linden will probably quit in disgust... and there will be fewer buyers. I think the economy of Second Life is unsustainable, but I'm willing to believe I could be proved wrong.
Yes, I studied economics at school, too...
I think if Anshe Chung has an issue with ANYONE, it's CNET. They failed to turn off public rezzing of items and scripts in their area, therefore they failed to take reasonable measures to prevent this attack. The video is a straw man... it'd happen in RL as well if someone "crashed" a live interview throwing hot-dogs across the stage. It doesn't happen much during professional interviews because security is usually tight. This simple switch on the land owned by CNET would have prevented this attack. By failing to do so, they're liable by failing to secure their land from such an attack.
Yeah, I realize the griefer himself was in the wrong as well, but he actually just didn't take Chung as seriously as she apparently takes herself. Honestly, I couldn't care less and I'm not a griefer, but I actually found it rather amusing.
This comment I agree with... and that's as someone who enjoys Second Life.
I actually had this discussion recently on a board online with a topic around Second Life and how it's defined. The entire conversation sparked from me talking about my experiences in Second Life and I just happened to use the word "game". I know you're going to believe this; but there were actually people who started flaming me (albeit in a lucid and well thought-out fashion) for calling Second Life a game rather than some other phrase such as "Virtual Experience" or some other crap. That actually just blew me away!
I hope I never get to that point with SL. As it stands it's a nice distraction every now and again in much the same way as other people own a gaming console and play that. I don't have a game console... my son does but I rarely play it unless I'm playing with him. Generally I'm not interested in games unless I can pick them up, play them for fifteen minutes and be entertained, then shut them down again until I feel like playing them again. Believe it or not, my Mac is a great platform for this with lots of free games installed (Chopper, Lunar Jetman... that sort of stuff). Second Life is the one exception I have. As I posted elsewhere I like the social aspect in the same way as I enjoyed IRC many moons ago. I also enjoy the creativity it gives me; it's a 3D modeling engine I can use to create 3D artwork I can give to others. I don't sell my wares, I don't see the point.
Some people do take Second Life to an extreme. From my perspective it's a game; something that can distract me for an hour or so here and there. Sometimes (like recently) I'll be online a lot... I've been sick and unable to do much except play with Second Life. But real-life is still where it's at for me.
It's funny really. I recently met a guy who knew me through my Livejournal (no, no link) where I sometimes talk about my experiences in Second Life. One of the first things he mentioned was that I was nothing like he expected. He told me he'd expected me to have a beard like a hedgerow and weigh 300lbs or so because that was his experience of Second Lifers so far. I don't believe that's true of all SL players, but he was actually quite shocked to find I was almost half the man he was expecting (170lbs, clean shaven and wearing khakis and a trenchcoat that evening). I do often wonder how many SLers acutally do meet his perceived notion... and I do wonder how many WoWers fit that description too... especially since all the WoWers I know DO fit that description.
As a content creator in second life, who doesn't sell my wares I have to say you're sort of missing the point a little. It exists to waste time? Only if you consider creation of artwork also a waste of time. To me, Second Life is a 3D canvas that appeals to my inner geek as well as allows me to create artwork in 3 dimensions that I can let other people view. I also allow limited copying of my works so other people can enjoy them. To me that's not a waste of time; it's doing art for art's sake.
I've always had a sketch pad in my laptop bag. I doodle, I draw, I write. I don't intend to sell any of those works but friends of mine often comment that I could if I really wanted to apply myself to it. But I choose not to. Is that a waste of time, too? Just because I don't make a living off my drawings (or my occasional paintings), but I enjoy them and occasionally give them away or copy them for friends. That's what I do in Second Life, too. It just happens those friends often live nowhere close to me.
I don't like most online games... I don't enjoy the rigid structure and limiting world. I enjoy freedom to do what I want... that's why I draw, paint and write. That's why I build things in Second Life I think people will want to see and enjoy. I played Eve Online for a while but eventually found it more boring than Second Life. And more expensive in real-life money. I also enjoy the social aspect of Second Life in the same way I enjoyed IRC over a decade ago and made friends who are still my friends to this day and helped me move to another country.
Although back on topic, I severely disagree with Anshe Cheung and her actions with the DMCA. That's a bad precedent to set and I hope it gets shot down in flames. Yes, there are griefers in Second Life (people who do the sort of thing shown in the video). Hell, I've been a victim of griefing attacks as well. The best thing to do is ignore them. They're bullies, plain and simple.
As a Windows and Linux user also, I am used to the right mouse button. That's why when I bought my Macbook Pro I bought a Bluetooth mouse to go with it. Takes me all of about ten seconds to pull that out of my laptop bag if I need it, or I'll just "suffer" with CTRL-CLICK (can't quite get the two-fingers-click thing down yet, need practice).
:)
Sorry, was that too easy a solution?
Microsoft's customers would rather pay for competent technical support.
Programming is not their competence, the internals of an OS is something they have no desire to muck with, ever.
Thank you... couldn't have put it better myself. Note this is also true for Apple customers most of whom probably wouldn't know source code if it bit them on the arse. At least, that's historically true.
I have little desire to muck with the source code from OSX, even though I do write some small applications that I compile under the OS. The API layer is extremely well documented and the development tools are quite frankly amazing compared to Microsoft's offering (and you have to pay for that!)
As for the support issue, my recent experiences with Apple tech support have been a little mixed, but generally very good. The phone support was excellent, efficient... and turnaround for a laptop repair was three days from shipment to return. Excellent in my book. The support at the "Genius Bar" at the retail store... not so good. But having said that, at least I had the OPTION of retail support for my laptop and OS. Try getting that with a Dell... or even an HP laptop. Best Buy for example will generally look at simple hardware problems, then delegate to HP or Microsoft. Apple... it's one store, one phone number. Easy.
Brilliant. I didn't even notice this (and I spent several months working in Paris). The irony is the name isn't fictional... a friend of mine has exactly that name and he's going to get such a load of crap from me about this when I see him later.
:)
Irony is... he's an avid Mac user.
Don't even know why I'm bothering to reply to an AC... but;
Read this.