1. We aren't allowed to use open source and so we have to "trust" every 'signed binary' which executives and leaders want to use. If we could use open source, we could at least read the source and even compile it to ensure the source we read was the binary which was compiled.
2. When the malware doesn't do "harm" to anything, the symtoms of malware are non-existant. No pop-up ads, no unusual crashing (see note about being unable to use open source... the 'other' operaitng system crashes often enough for inexplicable reasons that no one suspects malware as the cause any longer) and when a commonly used utility program which performs remote access is used, how can it be detected as malware?
Arguably, that it was proprietary and commercial software which was exploited is pretty disturbing. But at the same time, that software makers (and other device and product makers, and service providers too) frequently enter into deals with government to spy on people is unfortunately very common. That the "white-hat" (heh, I accidentally typed "white-hate"... apropos?) nation called the USA has compromised global communications with Echelon and more recently with the much celebrated NSA wiretapping, does not help matters.
I think no one appreciates the value of trust. Once it's lost, it's lost. What amount of trust in government... any government... may have existed, it is gone for most of us. The unenlightened? Well... they still watch MSM (mainstream media, I have come to know these initials). What hope have they against that?
First of all, every DRM has been and will be cracked. If my computer will somehow be able to decode a video for playback, then it's already cracked. And there's no way open source browsers will somehow lack the ability to play back these encrypted files. So, to that end, let them do it. We will have our content.
I understand there may be some GPL issues, but Firefox isn't GPL is it? What browser(s) are?
DRM is a devil. The ignorant and greedy believe things about it which are not true. This isn't a "lock which keeps honest people honest." These "honest" are most likely rather unsophisticated and wouldn't have a clue how to fix a situation when things go wrong... and they will go wrong. Someone will crack a something resulting in an authentication server or certificate server or something 'key' being taken offline which will harm those who paid for the service. And the real problem of DRM is how it harms the "honest" which are their REAL customers.
I haven't seen an update to my X-Wing vs Tie Fighter game for a very long time... still waiting...... also, "The Force Unleashed 2" was way too short and still haven't put out any updates to extend the story/game to a more fitting length.
Perhaps it's not only the price. It's not only the updates. It's not only the quality. It's a lot of things.
I think something that will win, if it were only one thing, is to create a community of users and stay involved. They are getting more than your 'product.' They are getting your service from a source they should hopefully like and enjoy interacting with. But sure -- quality is important as are updates/fixes as is the price.
We know how to get things done in the US. It takes a lot of money. Money pays lobbyists and lobbyists channel money to political entities. Money comes in more forms than I can count. A few come in the form of "revolving door" jobs where they get paid a lot for doing nothing.
We don't allow direct bribes in the US. The bribes bust me masked, cloaked, laundered and/or transformed before they make their way to government.
Well I'm surprised there isn't mention of how the term "debugging" came to be.
Turns out there was once a software irregularity being investigated in one of the earliest computers. The problem discovered was an insect has gotten into the machine hardware and shorted out one or more components.
This is a serious matter, however, as a nuclear facility should not have things like rats running around. This is evidence that they are STILL not taking nuclear safety seriously.
People simply need to be smarter. They aren't. No amount of precautions which do not inhibit functionality will help. People want to do what they want to do. The weak link is almost always the people and you can't control them with computers. You can limit what they do, but now you're encroaching on usability.
Okay. I've heard enough. I have not heard of any private water processing plants so I'm going to go out on a limb and presume that this is a public cost and that the frackers aren't really paying for what they use. So someone out there, if you know, please put my rage to ease by explaining that the frackers are paying for the full cost of the water treatment... better, I see a way that the public can benefit in some way -- let the frackers pay for more than their own clean-up... make it like a TAX! It's not fair to put the tax burden only on the consumer which is more or less how it's done now as I understand it.
Shoplifting harms Walmart. Infringement through file sharing does NOT.
And that's the whole point of the research and studies. They show clearly it does not "hurt" their income to infringe. Also, research has shown that by keeping the parties involved with THEIR stuff instead of alternatives, keeps their market popular. We learned that lesson VERY well through Microsoft who famously left security of thier OS license keys absent or weak for a long, long time while they killed the competition and counted "pirated copies" as part of their market share reports.
So when it comes to online media services, the "most free" will win out over those who are less free.
This has been proven over and over and over again in all manner of ways and all manner of areas.
People believe, for example, that homosexuality is somehow learned and that homosexual parents will make gay children. Provably false all over the place. People continue to believe that being cold gives you a cold. This is also provably false and no one ever questions how one gets a cold in the summer time. It's like apples can hit them on the head all day long and they'll NEVER get that apple come from trees because they won't look up!
So the **AA groups believe that people don't buy when they can infringe. That seems logical on the surface, but reality is different.
Give people an efficient and reliable way to download things legally, and they WILL pay for it... but it has to be what they want in the way they want it. FORGET about lacing the video streams with commercial ads like on TV. (But they'll do that anyway... they always do.)
Belief trumps fact all day long. The only way to trump belief is to wait for the believers to die....and hope they don't teach their beliefs to others.
Sometimes the best way to get what you want is to give a little and let go a little.
It has never been a question of "can they" but of "should they." I think most of us agree they should not, and now perhaps a few more agree as well. Interestingly, there have been ample examples of why such practices are bad. Blackberry outages should have taught this to executive types over the years. But there have also been DRM servers which have gone down in the past I seem to recall with large amounts of attention on the matter of DRM and always online gameplay.
"This time it will be different." Perhaps not.
Fans are more valuable than customers... and customers more valuable than consumers. Hubris.
The crime wasn't breaking in (as this has been repeated over and over again), it was disclosure.
Part of the problem is that the prosecutors are simply ignorant as to what they are prosecuting. So any "evidence" presented was done without understanding of what they were asserting. That's quite disturbing on its own.
The "offense" isn't necessarily hacking, because that is not what happened (though it is 'believed' to have happened). What he did was collect the information and present it to the media to bring light to this otherwise serious breech -- a breech that was in active exploitation by others at that time. So, the crime was putting light on the problem.
There is a valuable lesson to be learned here. If you disclose, do it anonymously. If you don't, someone ignorant will try to prosecute. What's more, if you try to report it to the compromised party (such as AT&T in this case) they will still likely have you charged with some computer crime as has been demonstrated in the past. The only option left is fast and anonymous disclosure and to HOPE that black hats don't abuse the information before it is fixed. (We know this won't happen.)
So, don't tell AT&T their pants are down or they will blame you for taking their pants down. Instead, whisper it to other people and let the whole world laugh at AT&T before they can respond. We know that keeping the secret "secret" will not help the public servicing entity because whether someone speaks out or not, the wrong people WILL know of the problem. The right people (the public servicing entity) need to be notified and made aware of the problem(s). But there is significant risk to the messenger. So that message must be disclosed anonymously and publically. What other choice is there?
AT&T... you have just painted yourself and all other large litigious companies into a very awkward and even dangerous position.
Did you not notice how 7.8 has a longer cycle than 8? What can consumers expect from 9?
Here's the deal. Microsoft has been trying to get into mobile devices and phones for a very long time. It has been 10 years or more it seems. They've failed to be successful for all this time. What indication could there be that 9 will be a success? 8 is NOT a success. The profit numbers are more telling than the "dumping" market sales numbers. No success takes this long to grow in this market. It has always been a smash hit for any new thing. That StarTAC phone? Gotta have it! That new RAZR phone? Everyone had to have it. There is a long list oh must-have phones out there from way back.
And to show a line for a windows phone, you had to go to China? C'mon. Tell me you didn't know that there is a line for EVERYTHING in China.
Microsoft hatred is not quite a disease. It is an acquired reaction. It's like calling "people who hate rape" diseased. "You never know! You might like it next time!" It's like the fact that black taxi drivers in the city will not pick up black passengers. Is it still "racist" or is it something else?
Experience and reputation have to count for something. Or do we try to discard the one thing that makes humans superior? That we learn not just from our own experiences, but from those of others as well.
The typical support channel is through the carriers who, as most experienced customers know, replace the new phone they bought (often on the same day!) with a refurb or used phone if a problem is encountered.
I recall an experience I had with Sprint. Bought a brand new phone. It had some problem with its keypad. They went to replace this new phone with a refurb. I said "hey, wait a minute. I bought a NEW phone. Why am I walking out of here with a used one?!" "policy." "So like if you bought a new car, and within 15 minutes you noticed a problem, went back to the dealership and they gave you a used car, that would be OK with you?"
Sick of Microsoft. Sick of carrier games. Sick of the race to the bottoml offering as little as the market will accept for the highest possible price; charging for things which are free; requiring things which the users don't want or need.
Who are these jokers?! Well, I'm glad I'm not as alone as I thought I was. But I still have co-workers who agree with my rants about the carriers and recently, he just renewed his contract with Verizon for another two years for a shiny new Galaxy S3... just a week or two before the announcement of the S4. So he's stuck with expensive data plan, expensive "older model/close-out" phone for the next two years... literally spending twice as much as he should be.
There is no shortage of people who can't see beyond today.
Microsoft has abused its locked-in public for far too long; failed to fix things which were important to users, forced "upgrades" onto business. They abused their monopoly power to everyone's annoyance... even the developers, developers, developers.
Is it any wonder why, when Microsoft decides to expand into a market they were too late for, that they couldn't draw any fans (because there are none) or developers or anyone? You can only buy so much, but you can't buy customers... well you can to a degree, but you can't pay them enough to suffer through more Microsoft than they already have to.
I remember long ago.. Windows95... I was excited. Windows98. Still excited. They were good and popular because anyone could get it... piracy was part of their market share and part of their marketing plan. Once they had full control, the turned on "genuine advantage" and here we are.
Fool me once, Microsoft, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
Developers are pretty self-important. And when it comes to who is steering a project, I used to think "let the engineers, do what they do!" Then I met up against a company driven by engineers instead of sales and marketing and found out what happens when my ideal is realized -- an unexpected kind of hell. In the case of this company, I will say that it is huge and Japanese. They cannot deliver on customer needs and government compliance requirements because they do things "their way" (sounds a bit lile Apple come to think of it) Consequently, it is costing jobs and their very existence in the US market. (Back in Japan, this company tells the government what is acceptable... in the US, it doesn't work that way.)
But this same problem exists in other areas too. And in the case of GiMP, GNOME and all those, they aren't being driven by any particular market demand. They appear to be trying to "lead" the market... to get ahead of the demand, as if they are some sort of fortune tellers who know what the next great thing is. When it comes to great change, you simply can't force it. Even great ideas are rejected when it's forced onto people. It's not the ideas or the quality. It's the presentation.
Provocation? Really? Samsung merely plays in the mobile phone market and had been in it before Apple.
I have always found it interesting that people are most often prone to blaming the "offender" over the "offended." Where the line is drawn over what is generally considered offensive is invariably determined by the offended and therefore the offender is always at fault. And yet, when you look at all the ridiculous and unreasonable causes for offense, you begin to realize that it's folly to presume the offended is the party in the right.
Apple hadn't lost any business. However, Apple's own reaction has soured much of the public against them. So I cheer Apple's response for that. Apple is and always has been its own market. Exclusive. Their claims of losses is merely the market doing what it does -- changes, shifts and evolves -- all of which requires that things which come before them affect the things which come next. iPhone is not "original" and neither is anything that came before or after.
Not only that, a frequent argument used by Apple and Apple fans is that the quality of Apple gear is much higher than that of the typical PC. While I will not argue that point when it comes to the Mac Pro and all that -- their case designs are outstanding if not simply sexy -- the variable quality of devices within speaks differently. Fortunately, i have not experienced any of the problems others have with Apple gear beyond the cyclical obsolesence problems where Apple not only renders software obsolete, but their hardware as well.
And that's a problem when the same vendor controls both the software and the hardware isn't it? And isn't this what Microsoft is attempting to do with their secure boot crap?
Even as I was a TSA screener for a while, the whole "papers please!" measures that have been coming down have simply reminded me of "Nazi Germany" from old movies and the like. At some level I found it amusing if only because people were so easily pushed into accepting this. Nobody questioned things enough. Nobody asked "why is the security threat condition never 'GREEN'?" Of course I was also disgusted by it. That we were told to explain to people about rules which were 'secret' and couldn't be shown to them made me feel like a real shit. I was glad to finally get another job when I could.
A government which cannot be trusted has already betrayed the people and it needs to be corrected. "It was my job" was an excuse I used too... though, the things I let slip by me... well...:) I can't say that I let them slip by intentionally, but in one attempt, I was foiled by a co-worker who ratted out a one-legged man who had marijuana in his pocket. I *so* wanted to let that go...
I don't know... if somehow they could have, in the 9-1-1 call, put out that a policeman has been killed or something like that, I'm not sure the possibility that it was a hoax would be enough to stop the shoot-first reaction. They tend to go pretty crazy when that happens.
PLEASE please PLEASE let it be that the Samsung displays are just fine while LG displays are not. I really want to see Apple squirm over this issue.
It's not that I'm "Anti-Apple" here, but just the way we saw that it is clearly wrong for the music publishers to sue their customers, I see it as pretty damned stupid for Apple to sue its suppliers.
Apple sells things which are made of a whole lot of other things. When Apple started suing the supplier of their component things, they are attacking a part which they depend on. It makes me think of a bridge attacking the pillars it sits on. I just want to see incredibly stupid behavior rewarded.
The bonus, if you can call it that, is that it IS actually true. It's also raising the mercury levels in fish all over... we eat the fish... it used to be healthy and now it's a health risk. Burning things to heat water to turn things to create electric power is just bad.
Nuclear power, when managed properly and strictly, is the only way to go right now. Wind is kind of good, but it can't stand alone and neither can solar. Geothermal isn't available everywhere. So what else is there?
People do need to take their heads out of their asses.
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Suspiscious based on what criteria?
1. We aren't allowed to use open source and so we have to "trust" every 'signed binary' which executives and leaders want to use. If we could use open source, we could at least read the source and even compile it to ensure the source we read was the binary which was compiled.
2. When the malware doesn't do "harm" to anything, the symtoms of malware are non-existant. No pop-up ads, no unusual crashing (see note about being unable to use open source... the 'other' operaitng system crashes often enough for inexplicable reasons that no one suspects malware as the cause any longer) and when a commonly used utility program which performs remote access is used, how can it be detected as malware?
Arguably, that it was proprietary and commercial software which was exploited is pretty disturbing. But at the same time, that software makers (and other device and product makers, and service providers too) frequently enter into deals with government to spy on people is unfortunately very common. That the "white-hat" (heh, I accidentally typed "white-hate"... apropos?) nation called the USA has compromised global communications with Echelon and more recently with the much celebrated NSA wiretapping, does not help matters.
I think no one appreciates the value of trust. Once it's lost, it's lost. What amount of trust in government... any government... may have existed, it is gone for most of us. The unenlightened? Well... they still watch MSM (mainstream media, I have come to know these initials). What hope have they against that?
First of all, every DRM has been and will be cracked. If my computer will somehow be able to decode a video for playback, then it's already cracked. And there's no way open source browsers will somehow lack the ability to play back these encrypted files. So, to that end, let them do it. We will have our content.
I understand there may be some GPL issues, but Firefox isn't GPL is it? What browser(s) are?
DRM is a devil. The ignorant and greedy believe things about it which are not true. This isn't a "lock which keeps honest people honest." These "honest" are most likely rather unsophisticated and wouldn't have a clue how to fix a situation when things go wrong... and they will go wrong. Someone will crack a something resulting in an authentication server or certificate server or something 'key' being taken offline which will harm those who paid for the service. And the real problem of DRM is how it harms the "honest" which are their REAL customers.
Agreed.
I haven't seen an update to my X-Wing vs Tie Fighter game for a very long time... still waiting... ... also, "The Force Unleashed 2" was way too short and still haven't put out any updates to extend the story/game to a more fitting length.
Perhaps it's not only the price. It's not only the updates. It's not only the quality. It's a lot of things.
I think something that will win, if it were only one thing, is to create a community of users and stay involved. They are getting more than your 'product.' They are getting your service from a source they should hopefully like and enjoy interacting with. But sure -- quality is important as are updates/fixes as is the price.
We know how to get things done in the US. It takes a lot of money. Money pays lobbyists and lobbyists channel money to political entities. Money comes in more forms than I can count. A few come in the form of "revolving door" jobs where they get paid a lot for doing nothing.
We don't allow direct bribes in the US. The bribes bust me masked, cloaked, laundered and/or transformed before they make their way to government.
Well I'm surprised there isn't mention of how the term "debugging" came to be.
Turns out there was once a software irregularity being investigated in one of the earliest computers. The problem discovered was an insect has gotten into the machine hardware and shorted out one or more components.
This is a serious matter, however, as a nuclear facility should not have things like rats running around. This is evidence that they are STILL not taking nuclear safety seriously.
These are invariably give and take.
People simply need to be smarter. They aren't. No amount of precautions which do not inhibit functionality will help. People want to do what they want to do. The weak link is almost always the people and you can't control them with computers. You can limit what they do, but now you're encroaching on usability.
Okay. I've heard enough. I have not heard of any private water processing plants so I'm going to go out on a limb and presume that this is a public cost and that the frackers aren't really paying for what they use. So someone out there, if you know, please put my rage to ease by explaining that the frackers are paying for the full cost of the water treatment... better, I see a way that the public can benefit in some way -- let the frackers pay for more than their own clean-up... make it like a TAX! It's not fair to put the tax burden only on the consumer which is more or less how it's done now as I understand it.
Shoplifting harms Walmart. Infringement through file sharing does NOT.
And that's the whole point of the research and studies. They show clearly it does not "hurt" their income to infringe. Also, research has shown that by keeping the parties involved with THEIR stuff instead of alternatives, keeps their market popular. We learned that lesson VERY well through Microsoft who famously left security of thier OS license keys absent or weak for a long, long time while they killed the competition and counted "pirated copies" as part of their market share reports.
So when it comes to online media services, the "most free" will win out over those who are less free.
This has been proven over and over and over again in all manner of ways and all manner of areas.
People believe, for example, that homosexuality is somehow learned and that homosexual parents will make gay children. Provably false all over the place. People continue to believe that being cold gives you a cold. This is also provably false and no one ever questions how one gets a cold in the summer time. It's like apples can hit them on the head all day long and they'll NEVER get that apple come from trees because they won't look up!
So the **AA groups believe that people don't buy when they can infringe. That seems logical on the surface, but reality is different.
Give people an efficient and reliable way to download things legally, and they WILL pay for it... but it has to be what they want in the way they want it. FORGET about lacing the video streams with commercial ads like on TV. (But they'll do that anyway... they always do.)
Belief trumps fact all day long. The only way to trump belief is to wait for the believers to die....and hope they don't teach their beliefs to others.
Sometimes the best way to get what you want is to give a little and let go a little.
It has never been a question of "can they" but of "should they." I think most of us agree they should not, and now perhaps a few more agree as well. Interestingly, there have been ample examples of why such practices are bad. Blackberry outages should have taught this to executive types over the years. But there have also been DRM servers which have gone down in the past I seem to recall with large amounts of attention on the matter of DRM and always online gameplay.
"This time it will be different." Perhaps not.
Fans are more valuable than customers... and customers more valuable than consumers. Hubris.
The crime wasn't breaking in (as this has been repeated over and over again), it was disclosure.
Part of the problem is that the prosecutors are simply ignorant as to what they are prosecuting. So any "evidence" presented was done without understanding of what they were asserting. That's quite disturbing on its own.
The "offense" isn't necessarily hacking, because that is not what happened (though it is 'believed' to have happened). What he did was collect the information and present it to the media to bring light to this otherwise serious breech -- a breech that was in active exploitation by others at that time. So, the crime was putting light on the problem.
There is a valuable lesson to be learned here. If you disclose, do it anonymously. If you don't, someone ignorant will try to prosecute. What's more, if you try to report it to the compromised party (such as AT&T in this case) they will still likely have you charged with some computer crime as has been demonstrated in the past. The only option left is fast and anonymous disclosure and to HOPE that black hats don't abuse the information before it is fixed. (We know this won't happen.)
So, don't tell AT&T their pants are down or they will blame you for taking their pants down. Instead, whisper it to other people and let the whole world laugh at AT&T before they can respond. We know that keeping the secret "secret" will not help the public servicing entity because whether someone speaks out or not, the wrong people WILL know of the problem. The right people (the public servicing entity) need to be notified and made aware of the problem(s). But there is significant risk to the messenger. So that message must be disclosed anonymously and publically. What other choice is there?
AT&T... you have just painted yourself and all other large litigious companies into a very awkward and even dangerous position.
In any case, "sold new but was broken from the get-go to be replaced with refubs" is bad.
Did you not notice how 7.8 has a longer cycle than 8? What can consumers expect from 9?
Here's the deal. Microsoft has been trying to get into mobile devices and phones for a very long time. It has been 10 years or more it seems. They've failed to be successful for all this time. What indication could there be that 9 will be a success? 8 is NOT a success. The profit numbers are more telling than the "dumping" market sales numbers. No success takes this long to grow in this market. It has always been a smash hit for any new thing. That StarTAC phone? Gotta have it! That new RAZR phone? Everyone had to have it. There is a long list oh must-have phones out there from way back.
And to show a line for a windows phone, you had to go to China? C'mon. Tell me you didn't know that there is a line for EVERYTHING in China.
Microsoft hatred is not quite a disease. It is an acquired reaction. It's like calling "people who hate rape" diseased. "You never know! You might like it next time!" It's like the fact that black taxi drivers in the city will not pick up black passengers. Is it still "racist" or is it something else?
Experience and reputation have to count for something. Or do we try to discard the one thing that makes humans superior? That we learn not just from our own experiences, but from those of others as well.
The typical support channel is through the carriers who, as most experienced customers know, replace the new phone they bought (often on the same day!) with a refurb or used phone if a problem is encountered.
I recall an experience I had with Sprint. Bought a brand new phone. It had some problem with its keypad. They went to replace this new phone with a refurb. I said "hey, wait a minute. I bought a NEW phone. Why am I walking out of here with a used one?!" "policy." "So like if you bought a new car, and within 15 minutes you noticed a problem, went back to the dealership and they gave you a used car, that would be OK with you?"
Sick of Microsoft. Sick of carrier games. Sick of the race to the bottoml offering as little as the market will accept for the highest possible price; charging for things which are free; requiring things which the users don't want or need.
Who are these jokers?! Well, I'm glad I'm not as alone as I thought I was. But I still have co-workers who agree with my rants about the carriers and recently, he just renewed his contract with Verizon for another two years for a shiny new Galaxy S3... just a week or two before the announcement of the S4. So he's stuck with expensive data plan, expensive "older model/close-out" phone for the next two years... literally spending twice as much as he should be.
There is no shortage of people who can't see beyond today.
Microsoft has abused its locked-in public for far too long; failed to fix things which were important to users, forced "upgrades" onto business. They abused their monopoly power to everyone's annoyance... even the developers, developers, developers.
Is it any wonder why, when Microsoft decides to expand into a market they were too late for, that they couldn't draw any fans (because there are none) or developers or anyone? You can only buy so much, but you can't buy customers ... well you can to a degree, but you can't pay them enough to suffer through more Microsoft than they already have to.
I remember long ago.. Windows95... I was excited. Windows98. Still excited. They were good and popular because anyone could get it... piracy was part of their market share and part of their marketing plan. Once they had full control, the turned on "genuine advantage" and here we are.
Fool me once, Microsoft, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
Developers are pretty self-important. And when it comes to who is steering a project, I used to think "let the engineers, do what they do!" Then I met up against a company driven by engineers instead of sales and marketing and found out what happens when my ideal is realized -- an unexpected kind of hell. In the case of this company, I will say that it is huge and Japanese. They cannot deliver on customer needs and government compliance requirements because they do things "their way" (sounds a bit lile Apple come to think of it) Consequently, it is costing jobs and their very existence in the US market. (Back in Japan, this company tells the government what is acceptable... in the US, it doesn't work that way.)
But this same problem exists in other areas too. And in the case of GiMP, GNOME and all those, they aren't being driven by any particular market demand. They appear to be trying to "lead" the market... to get ahead of the demand, as if they are some sort of fortune tellers who know what the next great thing is. When it comes to great change, you simply can't force it. Even great ideas are rejected when it's forced onto people. It's not the ideas or the quality. It's the presentation.
The problem here? Apples design is based on stark simplicity.
Provocation? Really? Samsung merely plays in the mobile phone market and had been in it before Apple.
I have always found it interesting that people are most often prone to blaming the "offender" over the "offended." Where the line is drawn over what is generally considered offensive is invariably determined by the offended and therefore the offender is always at fault. And yet, when you look at all the ridiculous and unreasonable causes for offense, you begin to realize that it's folly to presume the offended is the party in the right.
Apple hadn't lost any business. However, Apple's own reaction has soured much of the public against them. So I cheer Apple's response for that. Apple is and always has been its own market. Exclusive. Their claims of losses is merely the market doing what it does -- changes, shifts and evolves -- all of which requires that things which come before them affect the things which come next. iPhone is not "original" and neither is anything that came before or after.
Not only that, a frequent argument used by Apple and Apple fans is that the quality of Apple gear is much higher than that of the typical PC. While I will not argue that point when it comes to the Mac Pro and all that -- their case designs are outstanding if not simply sexy -- the variable quality of devices within speaks differently. Fortunately, i have not experienced any of the problems others have with Apple gear beyond the cyclical obsolesence problems where Apple not only renders software obsolete, but their hardware as well.
And that's a problem when the same vendor controls both the software and the hardware isn't it? And isn't this what Microsoft is attempting to do with their secure boot crap?
Even as I was a TSA screener for a while, the whole "papers please!" measures that have been coming down have simply reminded me of "Nazi Germany" from old movies and the like. At some level I found it amusing if only because people were so easily pushed into accepting this. Nobody questioned things enough. Nobody asked "why is the security threat condition never 'GREEN'?" Of course I was also disgusted by it. That we were told to explain to people about rules which were 'secret' and couldn't be shown to them made me feel like a real shit. I was glad to finally get another job when I could.
A government which cannot be trusted has already betrayed the people and it needs to be corrected. "It was my job" was an excuse I used too... though, the things I let slip by me... well... :) I can't say that I let them slip by intentionally, but in one attempt, I was foiled by a co-worker who ratted out a one-legged man who had marijuana in his pocket. I *so* wanted to let that go...
I don't know... if somehow they could have, in the 9-1-1 call, put out that a policeman has been killed or something like that, I'm not sure the possibility that it was a hoax would be enough to stop the shoot-first reaction. They tend to go pretty crazy when that happens.
PLEASE please PLEASE let it be that the Samsung displays are just fine while LG displays are not. I really want to see Apple squirm over this issue.
It's not that I'm "Anti-Apple" here, but just the way we saw that it is clearly wrong for the music publishers to sue their customers, I see it as pretty damned stupid for Apple to sue its suppliers.
Apple sells things which are made of a whole lot of other things. When Apple started suing the supplier of their component things, they are attacking a part which they depend on. It makes me think of a bridge attacking the pillars it sits on. I just want to see incredibly stupid behavior rewarded.
Read it again...
The bonus, if you can call it that, is that it IS actually true. It's also raising the mercury levels in fish all over... we eat the fish... it used to be healthy and now it's a health risk. Burning things to heat water to turn things to create electric power is just bad.
Nuclear power, when managed properly and strictly, is the only way to go right now. Wind is kind of good, but it can't stand alone and neither can solar. Geothermal isn't available everywhere. So what else is there?
People do need to take their heads out of their asses.