No doubt. It depends on whether you are considering direct or indirect influences. I think indirect influences are pretty irrelevant to this discussion.
That's 20-25 cents per minute of music. Per minute of wall time would mean paying thousands of dollars for anything on Napster since it's usually hideously slow and drops transfers a lot.
At $1 per track it's still worth it to me for these reasons:
1. I don't have to go over to Tower records to buy the CD. I can just burn my own (for 50 cents more).
2. I tend to listen to pretty esoteric music that is often hard to find, even on-line. There are albums I have and would gladly pay $25 or more for.
3. I listen to a lot of progressive groups that tend to only have 3 -5 tracks per CD.:)
Still, I'd happily accept an equivalent per minute charge (maybe 20-25 cents a minute?) to download anything I like.
However, the RIAA will not let anything happen that doesn't leave them completely in control to gouge us how they see fit, preferably by a pay-per-listen scheme that would grossly penalize those of us who listen to music 60 hours or more a week.
Put it this way... if Gates suddenly disappeared in 1989, Microsoft would have continued on pretty much as it had. If Linus had disappeared in 1989, Linux (or something like it) quite possibly might never have happened at all.
Gates is not irrelevant, but his "bringing computers to the masses" was really initiated in 1980's, by 1990 it was a matter of momentum.
Because of Saddam's aggressiveness, the Gulf War came about, during which a lot of American technology (Patriot missles, A10 Warthog, etc) was tried in battle for the first time and found to work really well.
Does that get him on the list? No, not really, but Spudley's got a valid point. World leaders and other non-technical but prominent people can have a massive effect on technology. To wit, would we have had radar or jet engines or the Bomb as soon as we did were it not for Hitler? For that matter, the invention of the electronic digital computer was closely entwined with the attempt to break Nazi codes. So it could be argued that Hitler had a large effect on technology in the 1940's.
the documenation is often very sparse and it's chock full o' bugs. The only way I really enjoyed using MFC was when I was working with a guy who essentially forked off his own version, which allowed us to fix bugs and make enhancements. Also, that made it easier to keep working without CrapStudio and all that automated stuff that generally slows me down and makes the code look really ugly. MSVC++ is a pretty decent environment as long as you stay away from the automated stuff.
Well, there you have it. Two probably typical reactions of customers to the RIAA. There are very few organizations that can absolutely antagonize their customers and get away with it. I admit, I still buy lots of CD's because I really like music and am willing, however begrudgingly, to pay the price they are asking.
However, it seems that they want to charge me even more for the abaility to not use my music the way I want (and by that I don't mean give it away).
I've noticed a lot of smaller record companies are starting to allow the artists to maintain the rights to their music, we should try to support these companies whenever possible. This is one good way to help break the stranglehold the bigger record companies have over artists and customers.
You're right! Individuals are exercising more and more power over companies. It's getting out of control and is completely contrary to the American way of life. People are unfairly exercising their rights to think and use technology to abuse poor companies that have no recourse when faced with the power of a motivated hacker and such unscrupulous tools as Linux.
One of the problems with capitalism and technology is that individuals often become so powerful that their influence over honest hard-working companies becomes so great that they can start to take advantage of them. This is where the federal government can step in to protect the rights of these poor companies that are just trying to mind their own business and make a buck.
People might complain that these companies need to exercise a little more judgement when they come up with their business plans, but let's face, even the most careful companies can fall victim to ruthless individuals utilizing their technology to take unfair advantage of them.
It's time people stood up for the rights of victimized corporations! Write your Congresspeople so they can pass laws to protect those poor companies who cannot protect themselves.
If we don't stand up for the big companies, who will?
I don't have a problem with Mickey Mouse being copyrighted in perpetuity since they are producing new Mickey Mouse material continuously... but why should this affect some obscure out-of-print book from the 1920's?
Since "limited time" now means several decades after we will all die of old age, who cares?
Fair Use is the next target. As far as I'm concerned, buying a CD gives me the right to use the content in any way I want for my own purposes. If I'm not selling it or giving to someone, I consider that fair use.
If RIAA has their way, music (and movies, etc for the other media organizations) will ONLY be available on a per-per-use basis and no Fair Use as it exists today will even be possible.
Let's face it. SDMI would eventually give them the power to do this.
Yeah, but you also never heard of controversies over someone read porn magazines in libraries either... but you can't swing a dead cat without hearing about the controversy of viewing Internet porn in a public place.
Are you kidding? Is there any major airline out there doing _anything_ to attract travellers?
Right now, people are much more concerned about not having to sit on the tarmac for four hours, not losing their luggage, or not getting stranded overnight in some strange town.
Furthermore, since the airlines are doing so poorly despite all the money they are allegedly throwing into upgrading their systems and services, you can guarantee that they would only undertake this if they saw a big profit margin. Let's face it, the number of people that would or could take advantage of this is still fairly small. Fortunately, most of them would be businesspeople who are used to getting royally screwed pricewise because their on expense accounts.
The idea of a satellite dish on an airplane is interesting... but how would it stay pointed to the satellite?
More specifically, there are good hackers and there are _evil_ hackers.
I've known plenty of bad hackers, like one guy who I would often find tracing deep into OS calls in an attempt to diagnose a problem that was almost invariably caused by not compiling with the right version of the header files for the libraries he was using. That was a bad hacker.:)
I'd consider getting busted so I could get outfitted with all those cybernetic enhancements and fight a crazy AI and shoot lotsa mutants, as long as I can reload when I get whacked...
Well... they _can_ control anything they want, it's a retail Web site, not a public accomodation. Amazon does not have a gun pointed to anyone's head forcing them to shop there. If you don't like it, don't shop at Amazon.
Personally, I think they're jerking their customers around, but that's nothing new when dealing with retailers.
I have a strong feeling that this is the way everything will be in the future. Get used to it. At least they're not trying to patent the idea (AFAIK).
I'm having a hard time caring about whether what I do is legal or not. As laws get more and more complex and unrealistic, more and more people will stop worrying about trying to obey the law and just blatantly flout it.
Look at the tax law, almost nobody fills out their taxes correctly. In fact it's not hard to argue that no one _can_ fill out their taxes correctly. How long does it take for people to give up and just start cheating on purpose... after all if you get caught you're screwed either way.
The media giants ultimately want to force us to pay for every single time we view or listen to media. I'm sure ASCAP would love nothing more than to charge every birthday party in the country for using the copyrighted song "Happy Birthday", and I'm sure their working on a way to solve that problem through technology.
... and a breathless commentary which implies we will no longer have freedom of speech, Microsoft controls the government, information wants to be free as long as the "geek" community is on the receiving end and it must use "post-Columbine" at least once, and make a snobbish reference to "1337 hAx0rz".
Oh, yeah, and there's some really cool revolutionary technology being developed but we won't see it until "two to five years down the road."
Slashdot Mirror
No doubt. It depends on whether you are considering direct or indirect influences. I think indirect influences are pretty irrelevant to this discussion.
Rick
Sorry for replying to myself...
That's 20-25 cents per minute of music. Per minute of wall time would mean paying thousands of dollars for anything on Napster since it's usually hideously slow and drops transfers a lot.
Rick
At $1 per track it's still worth it to me for these reasons:
:)
1. I don't have to go over to Tower records to buy the CD. I can just burn my own (for 50 cents more).
2. I tend to listen to pretty esoteric music that is often hard to find, even on-line. There are albums I have and would gladly pay $25 or more for.
3. I listen to a lot of progressive groups that tend to only have 3 -5 tracks per CD.
Still, I'd happily accept an equivalent per minute charge (maybe 20-25 cents a minute?) to download anything I like.
However, the RIAA will not let anything happen that doesn't leave them completely in control to gouge us how they see fit, preferably by a pay-per-listen scheme that would grossly penalize those of us who listen to music 60 hours or more a week.
Rick
Put it this way... if Gates suddenly disappeared in 1989, Microsoft would have continued on pretty much as it had. If Linus had disappeared in 1989, Linux (or something like it) quite possibly might never have happened at all.
Gates is not irrelevant, but his "bringing computers to the masses" was really initiated in 1980's, by 1990 it was a matter of momentum.
Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate...
Because of Saddam's aggressiveness, the Gulf War came about, during which a lot of American technology (Patriot missles, A10 Warthog, etc) was tried in battle for the first time and found to work really well.
Does that get him on the list? No, not really, but Spudley's got a valid point. World leaders and other non-technical but prominent people can have a massive effect on technology. To wit, would we have had radar or jet engines or the Bomb as soon as we did were it not for Hitler? For that matter, the invention of the electronic digital computer was closely entwined with the attempt to break Nazi codes. So it could be argued that Hitler had a large effect on technology in the 1940's.
the documenation is often very sparse and it's chock full o' bugs. The only way I really enjoyed using MFC was when I was working with a guy who essentially forked off his own version, which allowed us to fix bugs and make enhancements. Also, that made it easier to keep working without CrapStudio and all that automated stuff that generally slows me down and makes the code look really ugly. MSVC++ is a pretty decent environment as long as you stay away from the automated stuff.
Well, there you have it. Two probably typical reactions of customers to the RIAA. There are very few organizations that can absolutely antagonize their customers and get away with it. I admit, I still buy lots of CD's because I really like music and am willing, however begrudgingly, to pay the price they are asking.
However, it seems that they want to charge me even more for the abaility to not use my music the way I want (and by that I don't mean give it away).
I've noticed a lot of smaller record companies are starting to allow the artists to maintain the rights to their music, we should try to support these companies whenever possible. This is one good way to help break the stranglehold the bigger record companies have over artists and customers.
Evil
Stupid
You're right! Individuals are exercising more and more power over companies. It's getting out of control and is completely contrary to the American way of life. People are unfairly exercising their rights to think and use technology to abuse poor companies that have no recourse when faced with the power of a motivated hacker and such unscrupulous tools as Linux.
One of the problems with capitalism and technology is that individuals often become so powerful that their influence over honest hard-working companies becomes so great that they can start to take advantage of them. This is where the federal government can step in to protect the rights of these poor companies that are just trying to mind their own business and make a buck.
People might complain that these companies need to exercise a little more judgement when they come up with their business plans, but let's face, even the most careful companies can fall victim to ruthless individuals utilizing their technology to take unfair advantage of them.
It's time people stood up for the rights of victimized corporations! Write your Congresspeople so they can pass laws to protect those poor companies who cannot protect themselves.
If we don't stand up for the big companies, who will?
Good spot, but I suspect he ran up against the max .sig length.
Rick
I don't have a problem with Mickey Mouse being copyrighted in perpetuity since they are producing new Mickey Mouse material continuously... but why should this affect some obscure out-of-print book from the 1920's?
Since "limited time" now means several decades after we will all die of old age, who cares?
Fair Use is the next target. As far as I'm concerned, buying a CD gives me the right to use the content in any way I want for my own purposes. If I'm not selling it or giving to someone, I consider that fair use.
If RIAA has their way, music (and movies, etc for the other media organizations) will ONLY be available on a per-per-use basis and no Fair Use as it exists today will even be possible.
Let's face it. SDMI would eventually give them the power to do this.
Yeah, but you also never heard of controversies over someone read porn magazines in libraries either... but you can't swing a dead cat without hearing about the controversy of viewing Internet porn in a public place.
There's a big difference.
Are you kidding? Is there any major airline out there doing _anything_ to attract travellers?
Right now, people are much more concerned about not having to sit on the tarmac for four hours, not losing their luggage, or not getting stranded overnight in some strange town.
Furthermore, since the airlines are doing so poorly despite all the money they are allegedly throwing into upgrading their systems and services, you can guarantee that they would only undertake this if they saw a big profit margin. Let's face it, the number of people that would or could take advantage of this is still fairly small. Fortunately, most of them would be businesspeople who are used to getting royally screwed pricewise because their on expense accounts.
The idea of a satellite dish on an airplane is interesting... but how would it stay pointed to the satellite?
More specifically, there are good hackers and there are _evil_ hackers.
:)
I've known plenty of bad hackers, like one guy who I would often find tracing deep into OS calls in an attempt to diagnose a problem that was almost invariably caused by not compiling with the right version of the header files for the libraries he was using. That was a bad hacker.
Rick
Of course you're right. Based on my experience, I would say that that situation exists in most of the private companies as well...
I'd consider getting busted so I could get outfitted with all those cybernetic enhancements and fight a crazy AI and shoot lotsa mutants, as long as I can reload when I get whacked...
Pennies (and nickels) aren't technically legal tender, but dimes are, and that would work well too!
Well... they _can_ control anything they want, it's a retail Web site, not a public accomodation. Amazon does not have a gun pointed to anyone's head forcing them to shop there. If you don't like it, don't shop at Amazon.
Personally, I think they're jerking their customers around, but that's nothing new when dealing with retailers.
I have a strong feeling that this is the way everything will be in the future. Get used to it. At least they're not trying to patent the idea (AFAIK).
Rick
I'm having a hard time caring about whether what I do is legal or not. As laws get more and more complex and unrealistic, more and more people will stop worrying about trying to obey the law and just blatantly flout it.
Look at the tax law, almost nobody fills out their taxes correctly. In fact it's not hard to argue that no one _can_ fill out their taxes correctly. How long does it take for people to give up and just start cheating on purpose... after all if you get caught you're screwed either way.
The media giants ultimately want to force us to pay for every single time we view or listen to media. I'm sure ASCAP would love nothing more than to charge every birthday party in the country for using the copyrighted song "Happy Birthday", and I'm sure their working on a way to solve that problem through technology.
Yes, but the winner of the Super Bowl is called the "World Champion"!
Hey, where else can we find a show whose episodes consist of:
85% antagonists facing off with occasional yelling
13% jumping towards each other
2% action
All done with about 43 total frames of animation per episode. You gotta admit, they must make this show with pocket change... now that's efficient!
... and a breathless commentary which implies we will no longer have freedom of speech, Microsoft controls the government, information wants to be free as long as the "geek" community is on the receiving end and it must use "post-Columbine" at least once, and make a snobbish reference to "1337 hAx0rz".
Oh, yeah, and there's some really cool revolutionary technology being developed but we won't see it until "two to five years down the road."
Rick
Call Reed Richards... sounds like Galactus is in the area.
This is the second recent cool science story I've missed the same way (the other was the piece about artificial blood).
This is the real "news for nerds" that rocks my world. I need about 1 story a week on "Information wants to be free" stuff like Napster and DeCSS.
Information may want to be free, but I want to sit around in my underwear watching TV and getting paid.