There's a NYT article about it this morning - he jokes about that:
"I do my own taxes," he said, grinning. "I would have never thought of taxes."
He also had this to say:
"H & R Block got hold of me and they've offered me free financial services for life," he said, grinning as if he had just nailed a question on medieval horticulture. "So that I never forget their name again."
XPSP2 won't do anything about spyware that already exists, but it does do a much better job of preventing future installs when visiting web pages. It's still possible for a user to install things like nasty ActiveX controls, but at least the new IE security features make the user take a couple of extra steps and be more aware of what's going on. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than the way IE used to work.
He says it will cost millions...but if he released another box set with just the original versions on DVD, he would make millions. That argument really doesn't make sense.
I'll buy the part about him not wanting to spend the time on it, and it not being the way he wanted it to be, but don't tell us it's too expensive when you are pretty much guaranteed to sell boatloads of DVDs no matter which versions you release.
Although it could be included in the time travel complaint, as a "jump-the-shark" moment, it really should stand alone.
Re:Absolutely correct; however...
on
Star Wars on DVD
·
· Score: 1
Exactly - he wasn't exactly "pure" when he killed all those Tusken Raiders in ep2, was he? So should he show up as a bratty little kid ghost? The only logical (hah!) form he should be in is as he was when he died - old and shriveled up, as that was when he finally redeemed himself. I'll give them the "old as if he were never vader", at lest, but certainly not his younger, turning-to-evil self.
Even worse - on dialup, those dialer trojans that get installed will actually work and will cost you money! Any computer connected to the internet directly, no matter how briefly, is potentially vulnerable.
Laptop user, sales guy, out in the field. I'd say that's pretty critical, as it would be difficult to help him if SP2 royally screws things up. Sure, not as critical as your servers, but still a huge pain in the ass if something goes so wrong that he can't even boot his laptop.
There will always be new vulnerabilities. I mean, what do you between the time a vulnerability is announced/discovered and the time MS releases a patch? Turn off your computer?
Well, that's not really Apple's problem, is it? That's something Virgin and the RIAA need to figure out.
Apple figured out a fairly good way to get a compromise between easy online purchase and satisfying the RIAA. Why should other online stores benefit from all the work Apple did to figure that out? Apple is under no obligation to let competitors take advantage of the deals Apple made with the RIAA.
Hmm. Interesting. That makes more sense, but still I wonder if the Real store has any advantages over the iTunes store. Songs cost the same, and unless the library is better, I just don't see how they think they are going to get iPod users to buy stuff from them.
The only way you could get people to leave the iTunes store is to sell unprotectd files, as it seems like Apple's "protection" is the least annoying of the schemes out there.
I don't have a problem with the concept of all music from all stores playing on all devices, but not if I have to install special software for each store. I think people are just going to pick one (or at most two) stores that require this kind of thing. Now, if they just sold them unprotected and competed on quality, price, and library we would have something interesting!
Does the Real store have any songs that the iTunes store doesn't? Have there been a lot of Real customers clamoring for this?
This sounds like total PR BS from Real - they are just mad that Apple (rightly) gave them the brush-off earlier, and they are under the mistaken impression that Apple or iPod users give a hoot about RealMedia format. I mean, if you have an ipod and use iTunes already, what possible reason could you have for wanting to put.rm files on your ipod (or your computer, for that matter)? It's not like having your own mp3s or even ogg files (that would be interesting, but unlikely to happen anytime soon) that you created yourself that you want to use on your portable media player of choice. Who is out there creating RealMedia files for themself? Nobody. And if you are buying songs from the RealMedia store, then it's highly likely that you don't have an iPod anyway. I'm sure Real would like to see that change - fat chance.
It may be a small feature, but people do care about it. My sister has pretty much switched all of her "PDA" stuff (contacts and calendar) from a PalmPilot to her new iPod. It doesn't offer all the features of a PDA, but it offers enough of them to make it work for her. One less device to carry around!
You are right - if people see a Rio or a Nomad, they won't think "iPod". However, if they aren't familiar with any of these players, they can still probably recognize an iPod and know what it is. In that sense, it is certainly starting to symbolize "digital music player" in many people's minds. It shows up on TV shows, in newspaper and magazine stories (especially "lifestyle" and "celebrity" sections), and in random news footage. For people that don't have any kind of portable digital music player, the iPod is what they see when trying to picture what a portable digital music player looks like.
Sure, back when tapes were all the rage, "Walkman" was the generic term for portable music. Sony has already missed the boat. These days, it's "iPod". Everybody knows what an iPod is, and what it looks like. It has become as generic as "Xerox" or "Kleenex".
Also, people who buy portable digital music players (especially expensive ones) ALREADY have thousands of songs in whatever format they like, most likely mp3. Given the choice between one that plays mp3s and one that converts to ATRAC, they will choose the mp3 player.
You've obviously never lived in a Communist country.
There was nothing fictional about the attempts by the Soviet Union to expand their sphere of influence. Say what you will about the United States doing the same thing, but that doesn't make what the Soviets were doing "fictional".
OK, so it's not really fair to get into relative levels of "evil", but let's also not minimize the "evil" that search optimizers do. It's not just a bunch of extra comments on blogs or wikis.
Their fundamental business model is CONTRARY to my interests as a consumer trying to get product information. They don't wish to let me find the product or the review or the site that MOST PEOPLE FOUND USEFUL, they only want me to find the one that PAID THEM THE MOST MONEY.
I realize that's just the way things are, but that's obviously counter to my whole purpose for using a search engine like Google. They are intentionally polluting the search results. It's not the methods I find "evil" (although blog comment and wiki spamming are pretty shady) as much as the end result - the loss of helpful web searches.
I can see how if you just heard that a "hip-hop star" was being cast, you would be worried about all the things you mentioned. However, if you have ever seen Mos Def in any movie or TV show he's been in, you'd realize he takes himself seriously as an actor, and that he's cast because he's good, and not because he'll "bring in the young kids". Well, he certainly might bring in some younger fans, but most kids listening to hip hop today have no idea who Mos Def even is. My point is that he's not a "stunt casting" - he's a good actor who does "relaxed, smooth, cool hipster" very well. I think it's great casting.
If it was anyone other than Mos Def (say, DMX, for example, who is not a bad actor, but who is certainly cast in movies that are designed around him, his music, and his whole image) I'd be worried as well. Check out some of the movies he's done and I think you will be slightly less concerned. He's much more of an "actor" than a "hip-hop artist with delusions of being a movie star and only works in movies that feature his own music". No, really!
Just read the damn thing! It's a pretty short book, and a quick read. Irritating at times, fascinating at others, net result is that it's good and worth discussing. Like most good books, it's about far more than a simple one-line description leads you to believe. The more you ask about it and deliberate, the less you are going to enjoy it - just read it and forget what everyone else says about it.
While you're at it, if you want a good book to read, pick up Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. Totally OT, but I just like to mention that book to people who may not have read it.;)
They might be, although "forcing" might not be the right word. I just purchased an OEM version of XP Pro, and it came with SP1 "built-in". I'm sure they are providing this to all of their OEM partners.
Slashdot Mirror
Exchange 2003. Case closed.
There's a NYT article about it this morning - he jokes about that:
"I do my own taxes," he said, grinning. "I would have never thought of taxes."
He also had this to say:
"H & R Block got hold of me and they've offered me free financial services for life," he said, grinning as if he had just nailed a question on medieval horticulture. "So that I never forget their name again."
NYT
XPSP2 won't do anything about spyware that already exists, but it does do a much better job of preventing future installs when visiting web pages. It's still possible for a user to install things like nasty ActiveX controls, but at least the new IE security features make the user take a couple of extra steps and be more aware of what's going on. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than the way IE used to work.
He says it will cost millions...but if he released another box set with just the original versions on DVD, he would make millions. That argument really doesn't make sense.
I'll buy the part about him not wanting to spend the time on it, and it not being the way he wanted it to be, but don't tell us it's too expensive when you are pretty much guaranteed to sell boatloads of DVDs no matter which versions you release.
You forgot the most important one:
0) Alien Nazis!
Although it could be included in the time travel complaint, as a "jump-the-shark" moment, it really should stand alone.
Exactly - he wasn't exactly "pure" when he killed all those Tusken Raiders in ep2, was he? So should he show up as a bratty little kid ghost? The only logical (hah!) form he should be in is as he was when he died - old and shriveled up, as that was when he finally redeemed himself. I'll give them the "old as if he were never vader", at lest, but certainly not his younger, turning-to-evil self.
Even worse - on dialup, those dialer trojans that get installed will actually work and will cost you money! Any computer connected to the internet directly, no matter how briefly, is potentially vulnerable.
Laptop user, sales guy, out in the field. I'd say that's pretty critical, as it would be difficult to help him if SP2 royally screws things up. Sure, not as critical as your servers, but still a huge pain in the ass if something goes so wrong that he can't even boot his laptop.
There will always be new vulnerabilities. I mean, what do you between the time a vulnerability is announced/discovered and the time MS releases a patch? Turn off your computer?
Well, that's not really Apple's problem, is it? That's something Virgin and the RIAA need to figure out.
Apple figured out a fairly good way to get a compromise between easy online purchase and satisfying the RIAA. Why should other online stores benefit from all the work Apple did to figure that out? Apple is under no obligation to let competitors take advantage of the deals Apple made with the RIAA.
Hmm. Interesting. That makes more sense, but still I wonder if the Real store has any advantages over the iTunes store. Songs cost the same, and unless the library is better, I just don't see how they think they are going to get iPod users to buy stuff from them.
The only way you could get people to leave the iTunes store is to sell unprotectd files, as it seems like Apple's "protection" is the least annoying of the schemes out there.
I don't have a problem with the concept of all music from all stores playing on all devices, but not if I have to install special software for each store. I think people are just going to pick one (or at most two) stores that require this kind of thing. Now, if they just sold them unprotected and competed on quality, price, and library we would have something interesting!
Does the Real store have any songs that the iTunes store doesn't? Have there been a lot of Real customers clamoring for this?
This sounds like total PR BS from Real - they are just mad that Apple (rightly) gave them the brush-off earlier, and they are under the mistaken impression that Apple or iPod users give a hoot about RealMedia format. I mean, if you have an ipod and use iTunes already, what possible reason could you have for wanting to put
That little skit at the beginning basically sold me on the show.
(I watched it on DVD, not broadcast, so I actually got to watch the FIRST episode FIRST).
It may be a small feature, but people do care about it. My sister has pretty much switched all of her "PDA" stuff (contacts and calendar) from a PalmPilot to her new iPod. It doesn't offer all the features of a PDA, but it offers enough of them to make it work for her. One less device to carry around!
You are right - if people see a Rio or a Nomad, they won't think "iPod". However, if they aren't familiar with any of these players, they can still probably recognize an iPod and know what it is. In that sense, it is certainly starting to symbolize "digital music player" in many people's minds. It shows up on TV shows, in newspaper and magazine stories (especially "lifestyle" and "celebrity" sections), and in random news footage. For people that don't have any kind of portable digital music player, the iPod is what they see when trying to picture what a portable digital music player looks like.
Sure, back when tapes were all the rage, "Walkman" was the generic term for portable music. Sony has already missed the boat. These days, it's "iPod". Everybody knows what an iPod is, and what it looks like. It has become as generic as "Xerox" or "Kleenex".
Also, people who buy portable digital music players (especially expensive ones) ALREADY have thousands of songs in whatever format they like, most likely mp3. Given the choice between one that plays mp3s and one that converts to ATRAC, they will choose the mp3 player.
You've obviously never lived in a Communist country.
There was nothing fictional about the attempts by the Soviet Union to expand their sphere of influence. Say what you will about the United States doing the same thing, but that doesn't make what the Soviets were doing "fictional".
OK, so it's not really fair to get into relative levels of "evil", but let's also not minimize the "evil" that search optimizers do. It's not just a bunch of extra comments on blogs or wikis.
Their fundamental business model is CONTRARY to my interests as a consumer trying to get product information. They don't wish to let me find the product or the review or the site that MOST PEOPLE FOUND USEFUL, they only want me to find the one that PAID THEM THE MOST MONEY.
I realize that's just the way things are, but that's obviously counter to my whole purpose for using a search engine like Google. They are intentionally polluting the search results. It's not the methods I find "evil" (although blog comment and wiki spamming are pretty shady) as much as the end result - the loss of helpful web searches.
Sounds like you're the one obsessed with copyright law.
Don't worry - that's just the "fake-out" ending.
I have the 3360 and those three features are the ones I use more than any others. By far.
First truly funny one of those, ever.
I can see how if you just heard that a "hip-hop star" was being cast, you would be worried about all the things you mentioned. However, if you have ever seen Mos Def in any movie or TV show he's been in, you'd realize he takes himself seriously as an actor, and that he's cast because he's good, and not because he'll "bring in the young kids". Well, he certainly might bring in some younger fans, but most kids listening to hip hop today have no idea who Mos Def even is. My point is that he's not a "stunt casting" - he's a good actor who does "relaxed, smooth, cool hipster" very well. I think it's great casting.
If it was anyone other than Mos Def (say, DMX, for example, who is not a bad actor, but who is certainly cast in movies that are designed around him, his music, and his whole image) I'd be worried as well. Check out some of the movies he's done and I think you will be slightly less concerned. He's much more of an "actor" than a "hip-hop artist with delusions of being a movie star and only works in movies that feature his own music". No, really!
Just read the damn thing! It's a pretty short book, and a quick read. Irritating at times, fascinating at others, net result is that it's good and worth discussing. Like most good books, it's about far more than a simple one-line description leads you to believe. The more you ask about it and deliberate, the less you are going to enjoy it - just read it and forget what everyone else says about it.
While you're at it, if you want a good book to read, pick up Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. Totally OT, but I just like to mention that book to people who may not have read it.
They might be, although "forcing" might not be the right word. I just purchased an OEM version of XP Pro, and it came with SP1 "built-in". I'm sure they are providing this to all of their OEM partners.