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Here is where they just FAIL trapped in the warp of their own success not knowing the failure that waits for them behind the next door.
I like google, gmail, etc, etc., etc..
All I wanted was to get some extra space in my inbox since the free space isnt' enough for me..
To use this service you need to have a domain name... I own serveral but I don't want my email @ my domain name
All of that is a minor point, just well something that I want...
Here is why they fail...
I can't contact them... there isn't an easy simple way to reach them and find out if there is an alternative..
When you click through into their help system you get into page after page of "try this and try that..."
It's one thing to offer free stuff for FREE and skimp on the help...
When your trying to sell something.. you need to be able to help people...
Not that my problem is such a big deal, but each group of people signing up will have their own problems, and the biggest one is that they can't get anyone on the phone or in email, without jumping through so many hoops, pages, forms and FAQs that well, it's like talking to a wall...
I'm sure I could read up on the difference between protection vs. management. It doesn't seem like one could be much different than the other.
There are two types of people. The RIAA see's customers and priates. The truth is there are customers and meme-speaders. Most people at times perform both roles. While it's great if people want to buy your stuff, the 2nd best choice is to have your stuff be made popular by the meme-spreaders.
If I want something from a store (brick, "e," or otherwise); I have to pay..
People should be able to copy works.
Copyright notices should be copied along w/ the work (e.g., as in GPL/Linux)
There should be a free or paid (up to the author) system whereby I can compare my "bits" to the original "bits" to make sure my copy is authentic (if that was something I wanted to do).
There should be within the copyright notice a universal resource locator that would allow me to pay and/or donate something for the bits (should I want to).
The comment was that the older service didnt' get people into the stores.
My thought is they get enough people in the stores.. but they need to get more people to their web site, to use their various e-services. For example, you can upload digital photos to their site and they will print them and mail them to you.
It seems that offering downloadable movies will appeal to the "net" segment of the population who would be much more into sshopping on their web site, etc.
If they offer affordable movies I would certainly give them a shot and it would make me more loyal to the brand.
I'd like to know if MS has a beta program for software developers. If Apple was in such a program. If it was open to them and they didn't make use of it, that would be an issue with Apple..
If there isn't such a program, do the EULA for the windows Vista beta that Gates spoke about allow a company like Apple to download it?
Basically, if Apple would have been allowed to download it, then they should have had a solution at hand.
This assumes that it was broken early in the development cylce and was never fixed.
Now, if the bits that are broken only got flipped since the last public or developer beta, that would be worthy of a law suit...
What he needs to do is create a "new" model that is programable and has some different name. I'll explain why below..
But 1st.. A) he is a bit of a control freak B) in the case of the iPod, the iTunes store connection, is both i) a key revenue stream and ii) the control of that connection is what encourged the record labels to sign up. C) Of course you can program a Mac anyway you like
As a mass market product Apple (read: Jobs) not only wants to be in control of the product and any revenue streams coming out of it, they are also worried that third party OTS and COTS could "break" the user experience. That is to say, their support costs and their perception of a "solid reliable product" could be altered by third party OTS and COTS that starts crashing or erasing, viruses, etc. (e.g.., I downloaded a new game from freegames.com and all my songs got erased and then I sync' with my computer and my songs got erased there also..)-- that's a bit over the top, but I'm sure that is what in part keeps him up at night.
So the solution is a device that is 15% more expensive called the iDIY (Do It Yourself) or what ever better name they come up with that accepts third party OTS and COTS and happens to support iTunes store purchases (or not if that's some huge no-no for Jobs).
Easier to support is clearly a reason to make a purchase choice.
I told a lot of people to buy AOL back in the days of modems for the same reason. #1 one it worked and #2 if it didn't they had a good enough support team to handle it so I wouldn't get the call.
But in terms of a PC, it depends. If the person has little experience I can see, very much to your point, that the Mac is an easier choice.
However, if the user is a moderate or greater level user of PC in the office, for the very same reason, they are going to find the PC easier to use.
I love Mac and I've owned several, but I've been working on Windows for the last few years (mostly due to cheaper purchase prices), and the new Mac OSX interface is not easy for me. Not that I have problem with it, but I clearly have to think about where things are (e.g., it's not the old mac interface I know well nor is it the PC Interface). Not trolling here, I know some people find it much easier but if you only use it a few times a year and you use the PC for several hours a day the rest of the year, it is less than intuitive.
The point about how "i" applications and/or "i" hardware work very well together is a critical point. Clearly for some users who don't want to deal with technology issues using OTS applications and hardware from Apple is a far better choice than any other combination.
While I agree that iTunes over charges, programs on TV, Cable or Sat Cable cost more than the annual subscription fees.
Each and every one of the ads that runs, contributes some revenue to the show.
Advertisers pay for each and every viewer as ads are based on CPM (Cost per thousand).
Typical TV shows have CPM prices of $5 to $20 per thousand viewers. Or 0.005 to.020 cents per ad. Typical shows have more than 20 ads, hour long shows even more.
In fact the cost of the TV shows on iTunes should be => the total cost of the ad (for 1 viewer) + the cost of transmission + some reasonable fee to apple; which IMHO is $2
I ask because there have been systems where the default option for new content is to treat is as FULLY Protected rather than as unprotected. Thus you cant' make a copy of your wedding video (for example).
re: "...Windows Vista provides a range of à la carte options that allows applications playing back protected content to properly enable the protections required by the policies established for such content by the content owner or service provider."
What happens when the content owner is also the owner of the machine. Can this person actually set DRM controls on the video of his kids birthday party, the sex he had video tapped with his wife, etc?
I think the term PODcast here is being used in a way that is overly broad.
Current law requires that certain usage of copyright material be "as of right." For example if you own a jukebox, your allowed to use any records in the Jukebox. No artist or band can prevent you from using their music in your jukebox. However, you must pay royalities for this use. Typically by law these are set by the Library of Congress, Chief Libr.
This law is aimed at changing that to a more market based system.
A PODcast is nothing more than an electronic pamphlet. The proposed law using typically mass market DRM would have a CHILLING EFFECT on free speech by preventing anonymous speech.
Part of free speech is anonymous speech, as in the anonymous pamphlet protesting unfair taxes imposed by King George or in the modern era protesting taxes, war or anything else. As long as you aren't "crying fire in a theater that isn't burning" free speech means not only do you have the right to say what you want but also that you have the right to keep your identity hidden.
Most DRM that I know of provide cryptographic secure proof of whom the owner/originator of the document/file is. Now it could be done anonymously just like e-money could be done anonymously... but often isn't.
not trying to be a troll here.. but.. one would think that that file would have been accessed quite often and that would have shown up in the logs...
If I was a new hire at some old company where everyone else had been let go, I'd at least check out the logs and see what is being used? and then if some file is being hit 1,000's of times a day.. maybe ask a few questions..
Think about the best French food in Paris some place that dinner can run $300 to $500 per person and then think about McDonalds.
Microsoft markets their products as if they were that French place in Paris, but in truth the they are selling at the McDonalds quality level. (Very clean, good ingredients, but it's not Haut Cusine...) and because they have such a large marketshare, they dump some products on the market cheap (E.g., IE) and some products they try to sell if you need them or not (e.g., Windows) and some they price higher than you would like (Office Suite vs the price of Word by itself..).
With the expectation/mindset that your getting the best food in world but when you actually get McD's and you pay what you pay the net results is that many people are less than happy.
They should just admit they make a mass market product for the masses, price it appropriately and call it day..
This lie, if it was one, led fraudulent use of computer resources. It's like spam, one message doesn't waste enough resources to be worth the light of day, but when you put all the spam messages in aggregate it a significant level of usage and represents legitimate damages.
Likewise, if this is a lie, then every click wasted what in aggregate amounts to 10's of thousands of dollars in wasted CPU cycles and net bandwidth.
Slashdot Mirror
But they don't offer it BEFORE you buy... nor email, live chat or anything else...
Thanks for contacting us. We aren't able to respond directly to inquiries...
Please visit our Help Center at http://mail.google.com/support/, or by
clicking 'Help' at the top of any Gmail page within your account. Our Help
Center provides answers to the most commonly asked questions, and offers
information about Gmail and all of its features.
Here is where they just FAIL trapped in the warp of their own success not knowing the failure that waits for them behind the next door.
I like google, gmail, etc, etc., etc..
All I wanted was to get some extra space in my inbox since the free space isnt' enough for me..
To use this service you need to have a domain name...
I own serveral but I don't want my email @ my domain name
All of that is a minor point, just well something that I want...
Here is why they fail...
I can't contact them... there isn't an easy simple way to reach them and find out if there is an alternative..
When you click through into their help system you get into page after page of "try this and try that..."
It's one thing to offer free stuff for FREE and skimp on the help...
When your trying to sell something.. you need to be able to help people...
Not that my problem is such a big deal, but each group of people signing up will have their own problems, and the biggest one is that they can't get anyone on the phone or in email, without jumping through so many hoops, pages, forms and FAQs that well, it's like talking to a wall...
I'm sure I could read up on the difference between protection vs. management.
It doesn't seem like one could be much different than the other.
There are two types of people. The RIAA see's customers and priates. The truth is there are customers and meme-speaders. Most people at times perform both roles. While it's great if people want to buy your stuff, the 2nd best choice is to have your stuff be made popular by the meme-spreaders.
If I want something from a store (brick, "e," or otherwise); I have to pay..
People should be able to copy works.
Copyright notices should be copied along w/ the work (e.g., as in GPL/Linux)
There should be a free or paid (up to the author) system whereby I can compare my "bits" to the original "bits" to make sure my copy is authentic (if that was something I wanted to do).
There should be within the copyright notice a universal resource locator that would allow me to pay and/or donate something for the bits (should I want to).
The comment was that the older service didnt' get people into the stores.
My thought is they get enough people in the stores.. but they need to get more people to their web site, to use their various e-services. For example, you can upload digital photos to their site and they will print them and mail them to you.
It seems that offering downloadable movies will appeal to the "net" segment of the population who would be much more into sshopping on their web site, etc.
If they offer affordable movies I would certainly give them a shot and it would make me more loyal to the brand.
I'd like to know if MS has a beta program for software developers. If Apple was in such a program. If it was open to them and they didn't make use of it, that would be an issue with Apple..
If there isn't such a program, do the EULA for the windows Vista beta that Gates spoke about allow a company like Apple to download it?
Basically, if Apple would have been allowed to download it, then they should have had a solution at hand.
This assumes that it was broken early in the development cylce and was never fixed.
Now, if the bits that are broken only got flipped since the last public or developer beta, that would be worthy of a law suit...
It has a very technical meaning which is the use I put it to here. Software is a rather generic term.
And to be precise I didn't say OTS I said, Third Party OTS.
I first started working in software in 1983, so why don't you think I know what I means? Did you check my profile?
What he needs to do is create a "new" model that is programable and has some different name. I'll explain why below..
But 1st..
A) he is a bit of a control freak
B) in the case of the iPod, the iTunes store connection, is both i) a key revenue stream and ii) the control of that connection is what encourged the record labels to sign up.
C) Of course you can program a Mac anyway you like
As a mass market product Apple (read: Jobs) not only wants to be in control of the product and any revenue streams coming out of it, they are also worried that third party OTS and COTS could "break" the user experience. That is to say, their support costs and their perception of a "solid reliable product" could be altered by third party OTS and COTS that starts crashing or erasing, viruses, etc. (e.g.., I downloaded a new game from freegames.com and all my songs got erased and then I sync' with my computer and my songs got erased there also..)-- that's a bit over the top, but I'm sure that is what in part keeps him up at night.
So the solution is a device that is 15% more expensive called the iDIY (Do It Yourself) or what ever better name they come up with that accepts third party OTS and COTS and happens to support iTunes store purchases (or not if that's some huge no-no for Jobs).
Easier to support is clearly a reason to make a purchase choice.
I told a lot of people to buy AOL back in the days of modems for the same reason. #1 one it worked and #2 if it didn't they had a good enough support team to handle it so I wouldn't get the call.
But in terms of a PC, it depends. If the person has little experience I can see, very much to your point, that the Mac is an easier choice.
However, if the user is a moderate or greater level user of PC in the office, for the very same reason, they are going to find the PC easier to use.
I love Mac and I've owned several, but I've been working on Windows for the last few years (mostly due to cheaper purchase prices), and the new Mac OSX interface is not easy for me. Not that I have problem with it, but I clearly have to think about where things are (e.g., it's not the old mac interface I know well nor is it the PC Interface). Not trolling here, I know some people find it much easier but if you only use it a few times a year and you use the PC for several hours a day the rest of the year, it is less than intuitive.
The point about how "i" applications and/or "i" hardware work very well together is a critical point. Clearly for some users who don't want to deal with technology issues using OTS applications and hardware from Apple is a far better choice than any other combination.
I mean it's a bit like selling coke and pepsi; not so much difference between Macs and PCs but people have their very clear and very strong choices...
The Ads are cute and funny and like any other ad are designed to sell one product at the expense of an other. I think they do that very well.
While I agree that iTunes over charges, programs on TV, Cable or Sat Cable cost more than the annual subscription fees.
.020 cents per ad. Typical shows have more than 20 ads, hour long shows even more.
Each and every one of the ads that runs, contributes some revenue to the show.
Advertisers pay for each and every viewer as ads are based on CPM (Cost per thousand).
Typical TV shows have CPM prices of $5 to $20 per thousand viewers. Or 0.005 to
In fact the cost of the TV shows on iTunes should be => the total cost of the ad (for 1 viewer) + the cost of transmission + some reasonable fee to apple; which IMHO is $2
Well sorta...
iTunes runs on any Mac or PC and can play songs on any of them..
If you want a portable music however, then you need an IPOD.
Not trolling, but MS invented ActiveX, too bad they didn't think it through and did a 1/2 ass job at it so that today it is causing problems.
This was the case where the person shot their own video and transfered to their PC.
I ask because there have been systems where the default option for new content is to treat is as FULLY Protected rather than as unprotected. Thus you cant' make a copy of your wedding video (for example).
re: "...Windows Vista provides a range of à la carte options that allows applications playing back protected content to properly enable the protections required by the policies established for such content by the content owner or service provider."
What happens when the content owner is also the owner of the machine. Can this person actually set DRM controls on the video of his kids birthday party, the sex he had video tapped with his wife, etc?
I think the term PODcast here is being used in a way that is overly broad.
Current law requires that certain usage of copyright material be "as of right." For example if you own a jukebox, your allowed to use any records in the Jukebox. No artist or band can prevent you from using their music in your jukebox. However, you must pay royalities for this use. Typically by law these are set by the Library of Congress, Chief Libr.
This law is aimed at changing that to a more market based system.
A PODcast is nothing more than an electronic pamphlet. The proposed law using typically mass market DRM would have a CHILLING EFFECT on free speech by preventing anonymous speech.
Part of free speech is anonymous speech, as in the anonymous pamphlet protesting unfair taxes imposed by King George or in the modern era protesting taxes, war or anything else. As long as you aren't "crying fire in a theater that isn't burning" free speech means not only do you have the right to say what you want but also that you have the right to keep your identity hidden.
Most DRM that I know of provide cryptographic secure proof of whom the owner/originator of the document/file is. Now it could be done anonymously just like e-money could be done anonymously... but often isn't.
My sprint PPC 6700 was 650.00 when I got it..
not trying to be a troll here.. but.. one would think that that file would have been accessed quite often and that would have shown up in the logs...
If I was a new hire at some old company where everyone else had been let go, I'd at least check out the logs and see what is being used? and then if some file is being hit 1,000's of times a day.. maybe ask a few questions..
Think about the best French food in Paris some place that dinner can run $300 to $500 per person and then think about McDonalds.
Microsoft markets their products as if they were that French place in Paris, but in truth the they are selling at the McDonalds quality level. (Very clean, good ingredients, but it's not Haut Cusine...) and because they have such a large marketshare, they dump some products on the market cheap (E.g., IE) and some products they try to sell if you need them or not (e.g., Windows) and some they price higher than you would like (Office Suite vs the price of Word by itself..).
With the expectation/mindset that your getting the best food in world but when you actually get McD's and you pay what you pay the net results is that many people are less than happy.
They should just admit they make a mass market product for the masses, price it appropriately and call it day..
This lie, if it was one, led fraudulent use of computer resources. It's like spam, one message doesn't waste enough resources to be worth the light of day, but when you put all the spam messages in aggregate it a significant level of usage and represents legitimate damages.
Likewise, if this is a lie, then every click wasted what in aggregate amounts to 10's of thousands of dollars in wasted CPU cycles and net bandwidth.
:( oh well.. so much for using agents of the state to do our bidding..
It's not wire fraud for lying?
Or what your saying is it isn't a criminal matter, it's a civil matter... ?
If he has misrepresented himself, that has to be illegal?
Anyone have any thoughts on this?