Lets get rid of all of these... 'computer things', after all, look at all of typists, proof readers, spell checkers, and everyone else who lost their jobs because of the damn thing. They lure our children away from more wholesome things like sports and make them think. THEY MUST BE STOPED!!!
I sure hope my sarcasm wasn't lost. You see my point, with computers many great changes happened and with technology many people lost their jobs, but many new jobs were created. Just think of Bob the intake manifold maker, his job now is building the best damn intake manifold (or some other part) for disposable rockets. If rockets suddenly can be reused, they would still need maintenance, just think of how many mechanics the airlines have working for them to keep their planes flying. This change is not the end, it is only a new beginning.
Big Tel-com company=hurt customers
I am an unhappy Time Warner Cable customer with a Roadrunner modem... it took me 6 weeks to track down a customer service, they refused to call me back. No, they said they would, they just never could force themselves to dial my number, it's only 10 digits, is it that harder then the 16 numbers they want me to enter so I will pay my bill. What part of "I refuse to pay until you return my calls so that you can take responsibility for and give me the service that I am being billed for" don't they understand?
Remember the good old days when if you had a problem you could talk to a person and not be stuck in all of the phone menus, when people were people and would talk to about your problems with their company, when they genuinely cared about the customer (or at least acted like it), when they spoke English with out some deep southern or other hardly understandable accent. I'll be 21 this week and even I remember times like this.
The bigger these companies get the harder it gets, you don't want to know what happened with me and Qwest.
"Who in their right mind would develop a remote administration tool (that would be used legitimately) that takes advantages in exploitable Security holes"
Someone wanting to make a less intrusive admin program? Slightly related example: Ever heard of VNC? I use it on all of my computers and got sick of seeing the lil icon in the task tray all the time, so I removed it, now unless you do some checking you don't know if it's there or not. I did this for my own personal use. I did this for simplicity, yes it could be used for malicious uses but I modified if it to work the way I wanted it to for my uses, if someone uses is for malicious uses so be it, thats not my problem, I only built the gun, I didn't load, aim and fire it.
Would I have to give them the code for that? Would I have to tell them where I buried important documents in the backyard or to whom I have given items for safe keeping?
You guys are so stupid, I'm in Windows 2000 and don't have a prompt! I mock you all and your pathetic text prompts... *sobbing* I want my prompt back!!! Have you seen my missing prompt? I think I left it at/home.
How soon until you think Microsoft will threaten to sue this project for it's potential to infringe upon the Microsoft market. You know the one, anything that runs on an Intel chip they like to own.
The DMCA does not say that they have to prevent access to it, it just says that it has to remove specific infringing items from their systems. It's easy to say that the whole area is bad. What's next, blocking access to IRC or FTP in general because of all the piracy on there?
Authentication *shuddering* This is the whole reason I will be avoiding Office XP and Windows XP. 2000 does what I need and I will stay with it until it doesn't... and if MS still believes in authentication then I will jump ship to Linux or BeOS where I can be me without worry about getting permission to use my computer.
Just for the hell of it, I went to 3 Radio Shacks today and picked up as many CueCats and CueTVs as I could. Only ended up with 17 of each. I'm gonna do the same thing every few days until all of the places I go to are out. Why? Who knows, maybe they will be worth something some day. I'll pass them on to my grandkids perhaps and have them sell them on ebay as historic relics to an age of stupidity.
Unfortunately it's not that easy. Old region system worked by the DVD software or hardware asking for the region on the DVD, In short the player would ask the DVD if it matched region x. If it did then it would play, if not then it would not. On region free drives, the answer is always yes.
with region free systems, the answer was always yes, the if question never really occurred. But remember, that was happening at the hardware/software level, you could flash or re write both so you could get around it (and many have.
the new system is a little harder, the check in the hardware/software still occurs (in general) but a little program on the DVD that asks the system what region it is looking for and then matches that against what the DVD is set to allow. If your region free player returns a 0 and the DVD is set to 1 then the DVD it's self will deny you access. This system is a little harder to break because it is on the DVD and you can't just over write it or forget it. It is part of the playing stream of the DVD.
You can't just make a DVD or DVD player or software at the drop of a hat, you need to pay lots and lots of money for licensing fee's to get be aloud to use the required patents. Things like the old Apex AD600A violated the agreement that Apex had with the movie industry with regard to DVD technology. According to the agreement (signed by all who make DVD hardware and software at least) the equipment much be region aware and prevent playback of unauthorized (not from the region) movies. They must also make it so that you cannot change the region or disable this 'feature,' thankfully on the PC side many DVD drives have slipped under the radar because there is more demand for region free or being able to change the region 5 times.
in short the copyright holders (movie industry) says "if you want to use our technology, you do it our way and follow our rules (regions)."
Unfortunately because you don't technically own the DVD, the movie industry likes to think that they can tell you on what you may play your DVD.
"You may only play this DVD on an approved brand DVD player, on an approved television that does not exceed 14 inches in diagonal length. You are prohibited from viewing it on any days that end in an Y unless you are standing on one leg while hopping up and down"
that is the kind of power they think they have on us, sadly few governments have tried to stop them. Ours makes to much money off of the movie industry for them to want to get involved with something so trivial as consumer rights.
They know it is a global world, thats why they do it. Someone mentioned the movie Snatch... it was released on DVD in the UK at almost the same time it came out in theaters here... I wanted to see it and couldn't get to the movie theater then and nearly bought it. I have a region free DVD drive so I can play anything. They do this to try to keep you from going elsewhere for your movies, in a sense it is an act against competition. To the consumer, if they can buy the same movie for 10 bucks less over seas... why not do it? The movie industys don't like loosing that money and try to charge you every penny they can here.
This is rather old news, it was first released with the Patriot and The Perfect Storm.
Sad thing is is that this system does NOTHING to prevent people with region free DVD drives on their computers from playing an ERC DVD. If you put in the dvd and it denys you access, put in a normal dvd and play it for a few seconds, then put in the ERC DVD and watch it play just fine. It's that simple!
There is a difference though. What if GM made cars that could ONLY use Super America gas, or worse yet, GM Brand gas... they wouldn't get far. When you by a telephone you are generally not buying it from the company, you don't buy your light bulbs from the power company and you don't buy your water heater from the gas company. You have a choice of where you go from many of these choices (other then the utilities). When you are driving your car you have a choice of getting gas at any number of places, such an option does not exist for TiVo but I can use almost any ISP with my DSL modem.
I wonder why this has gone on for so long, you buy a product and they have to pay the maker repeatedly for the use of it. Bank Loans, Asheron's Call, TiVo, DirecTV. What ever happened to buying a product and you getting to do what you want it (with in reason). Play it, use it, destroy it, no need to pay more.
One example of this is Microsoft's Asheron's Call, where you had to spend 50 dollars in the store for the software and then PAY to play it online, you could ONLY play it online... why be forced to pay? Games like Lineage and Neocron (will) give their software out for free and only charge for use. The Dreamcast game Phantasy Star Online you buy the software and then get to use it for FREE on the SEGA servers. What is wrong with this picture?
I would now like to announce my new trademark... of the letter 'R.' I guess everyone needs to turn over all domains that have the letter 'R' in it... looks like I now own micRosoft.com then eh?
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Lets get rid of all of these... 'computer things', after all, look at all of typists, proof readers, spell checkers, and everyone else who lost their jobs because of the damn thing. They lure our children away from more wholesome things like sports and make them think. THEY MUST BE STOPED!!!
I sure hope my sarcasm wasn't lost. You see my point, with computers many great changes happened and with technology many people lost their jobs, but many new jobs were created. Just think of Bob the intake manifold maker, his job now is building the best damn intake manifold (or some other part) for disposable rockets. If rockets suddenly can be reused, they would still need maintenance, just think of how many mechanics the airlines have working for them to keep their planes flying. This change is not the end, it is only a new beginning.
Who wants to join me on a massive prank calling campaign ... after all ... they gave us all of their phone numbers... Bowahahaha!
Big Tel-com company=hurt customers I am an unhappy Time Warner Cable customer with a Roadrunner modem ... it took me 6 weeks to track down a customer service, they refused to call me back. No, they said they would, they just never could force themselves to dial my number, it's only 10 digits, is it that harder then the 16 numbers they want me to enter so I will pay my bill. What part of "I refuse to pay until you return my calls so that you can take responsibility for and give me the service that I am being billed for" don't they understand?
Remember the good old days when if you had a problem you could talk to a person and not be stuck in all of the phone menus, when people were people and would talk to about your problems with their company, when they genuinely cared about the customer (or at least acted like it), when they spoke English with out some deep southern or other hardly understandable accent. I'll be 21 this week and even I remember times like this.
The bigger these companies get the harder it gets, you don't want to know what happened with me and Qwest.
"Who in their right mind would develop a remote administration tool (that would be used legitimately) that takes advantages in exploitable Security holes"
Someone wanting to make a less intrusive admin program? Slightly related example: Ever heard of VNC? I use it on all of my computers and got sick of seeing the lil icon in the task tray all the time, so I removed it, now unless you do some checking you don't know if it's there or not. I did this for my own personal use. I did this for simplicity, yes it could be used for malicious uses but I modified if it to work the way I wanted it to for my uses, if someone uses is for malicious uses so be it, thats not my problem, I only built the gun, I didn't load, aim and fire it.
Would I have to give them the code for that? Would I have to tell them where I buried important documents in the backyard or to whom I have given items for safe keeping?
geeze, can't a guy make a joke?
mmm... I think we need to bash this one.
You guys are so stupid, I'm in Windows 2000 and don't have a prompt! I mock you all and your pathetic text prompts... *sobbing* I want my prompt back!!! Have you seen my missing prompt? I think I left it at /home.
Command prompt... I don't use that to much these days, when I do it says... handofthrawn>
We are talking about Starship Troopers here, now any of the Alien movies. Geeze, some people.
How soon until you think Microsoft will threaten to sue this project for it's potential to infringe upon the Microsoft market. You know the one, anything that runs on an Intel chip they like to own.
Oh the wonders of modern technology. The erry thing to wonder too is where will it all be next?
The DMCA does not say that they have to prevent access to it, it just says that it has to remove specific infringing items from their systems. It's easy to say that the whole area is bad. What's next, blocking access to IRC or FTP in general because of all the piracy on there?
Authentication *shuddering* This is the whole reason I will be avoiding Office XP and Windows XP. 2000 does what I need and I will stay with it until it doesn't ... and if MS still believes in authentication then I will jump ship to Linux or BeOS where I can be me without worry about getting permission to use my computer.
I'll probably buy a copy, but I still think that George Lucus is a sniviling little baby still. This has helped a small amount to make things better.
Just for the hell of it, I went to 3 Radio Shacks today and picked up as many CueCats and CueTVs as I could. Only ended up with 17 of each. I'm gonna do the same thing every few days until all of the places I go to are out. Why? Who knows, maybe they will be worth something some day. I'll pass them on to my grandkids perhaps and have them sell them on ebay as historic relics to an age of stupidity.
with region free systems, the answer was always yes, the if question never really occurred. But remember, that was happening at the hardware/software level, you could flash or re write both so you could get around it (and many have.
the new system is a little harder, the check in the hardware/software still occurs (in general) but a little program on the DVD that asks the system what region it is looking for and then matches that against what the DVD is set to allow. If your region free player returns a 0 and the DVD is set to 1 then the DVD it's self will deny you access. This system is a little harder to break because it is on the DVD and you can't just over write it or forget it. It is part of the playing stream of the DVD.
in short the copyright holders (movie industry) says "if you want to use our technology, you do it our way and follow our rules (regions)."
"You may only play this DVD on an approved brand DVD player, on an approved television that does not exceed 14 inches in diagonal length. You are prohibited from viewing it on any days that end in an Y unless you are standing on one leg while hopping up and down"
that is the kind of power they think they have on us, sadly few governments have tried to stop them. Ours makes to much money off of the movie industry for them to want to get involved with something so trivial as consumer rights.
They know it is a global world, thats why they do it. Someone mentioned the movie Snatch... it was released on DVD in the UK at almost the same time it came out in theaters here... I wanted to see it and couldn't get to the movie theater then and nearly bought it. I have a region free DVD drive so I can play anything. They do this to try to keep you from going elsewhere for your movies, in a sense it is an act against competition. To the consumer, if they can buy the same movie for 10 bucks less over seas... why not do it? The movie industys don't like loosing that money and try to charge you every penny they can here.
Why not just find one that you can change the region in?
Sad thing is is that this system does NOTHING to prevent people with region free DVD drives on their computers from playing an ERC DVD. If you put in the dvd and it denys you access, put in a normal dvd and play it for a few seconds, then put in the ERC DVD and watch it play just fine. It's that simple!
There is a difference though. What if GM made cars that could ONLY use Super America gas, or worse yet, GM Brand gas ... they wouldn't get far. When you by a telephone you are generally not buying it from the company, you don't buy your light bulbs from the power company and you don't buy your water heater from the gas company. You have a choice of where you go from many of these choices (other then the utilities). When you are driving your car you have a choice of getting gas at any number of places, such an option does not exist for TiVo but I can use almost any ISP with my DSL modem.
One example of this is Microsoft's Asheron's Call, where you had to spend 50 dollars in the store for the software and then PAY to play it online, you could ONLY play it online ... why be forced to pay? Games like Lineage and Neocron (will) give their software out for free and only charge for use. The Dreamcast game Phantasy Star Online you buy the software and then get to use it for FREE on the SEGA servers. What is wrong with this picture?
I would now like to announce my new trademark ... of the letter 'R.' I guess everyone needs to turn over all domains that have the letter 'R' in it ... looks like I now own micRosoft.com then eh?