They are lightweight, fast and configurable. If you have a competent admin, these WMs can be set up to do the job nicely in situations were resources are an issue.
Uh, NASA and "the space race" was created not out of an overwhelming desire to explore. It was an advent of the Cold War. If the Soviets are going to space they must surely have an alterior motive in line with their plans to rule the world ( the underlaying sentiment of the day). Also, it was a propaganda vehicle that was used to prove to the world that "the American way of life" was more innovative, freer, and productive. Now I'm not espousing these ideals or mores. I'm simply relating what I know from growing up in the 60s. The fact the their (Soviet) German scientist managed to send a rocket into space before our (U.S.) German scientist managed to do it was viewed as an embarrassment and threat to the U.S. political machine.
I have nothing against any particular nationality mentioned in this post. And some of the other posters, rightly IMHO, point out the early European settlers came to America to escape pursectution and not out of some sense of adventure or wonderlust. The people native to this continent had been here for thousands of years before the European societies would even recognize the reality that there was another continent and that the world was indeed "not" flat.
The U.S government and the U.N., European commonwealth, etc.., etc..., are going to base such things as nonproliferations treaties, trade agreements dealing with commodities like automobiles, parts, durables goods, etc, on a file sharing program. "No you can't join NATO because you're nation won't shut down a music sharing server? Do these words ring a bell - Pirated software, People Rebublic of China, Free Trade Agreement, and "MOST FAVORED NATION TRADING STATUS!!!!!
Ya, the RIAA/MPAA and it's parent subscribers issued an order to Congress and the Administration - "If Estonia won't shut Kazaa down and you want campaign money you'll pursuade them even if it means sending in a few dozen cruise missles to hit those damn servers":-/
"can you explain why CD sales are just recently decreasing?"
Possibly because the economy has been tanking for the last few years and over that time more people are having financial issues. Like one poster commented earlier that people that have to tighten their belts will have to choose between CDs or food and rent - where do you think their money is gonna go?
I'm not sure about the impact on p2p. Yes I knew a few people that had large amount of mp3 from Napster, but they were few in numbers. Then there are those that have a small amount of mp3s but don't want to spend alot of time dl'ing music (perhaps they have a life outside of burning pirated mp3s).
But I for one, being a musician for over 30 years have frankly become disinterested in buying music (I used to buy music frequently and in large numbers). I have better things to do with my money. Back when "records" were the only thing I would be able to afford them with little thought about the impact on my budget. Now I just don't see the value in paying $20 for a CD that I'm only interested in hearing less than half the songs on it. if it were around $10 or $12 that might change things. But 20 bucks for four songs out of an album - nah I'll pass. I'd rather save my money to pay off my loans, buy a house, make my car payments, etc.... And while were at it, could it be that the cost of doing business for the recording industry has risen as well so profits are down - they're not immune to the econmic crunch either. Perhaps their just doing a little scape-goating. Ya, I don't doubt that p2p might be cutting in on their revenue stream, but I have a hard time buy into their contentions that it's as big of a factor as they would have us think. They said the same thing about cassette tapes and video recordings - now they make a mint form video recordings and CDs replaced albums and tapes became a non-factor shortly after (the car stereo cdplayer that didn't skip everytimg you hit a small bump made that possible). So, they put records albums out of the picture but cassette tapes meant you could still record music. Then tapes became unpopular and cd recorders became the big thing - they crumbled a bit, but not so much. Probably because they didn't see p2p comming. Now their back to the same problem they had when things changed from the 8 track cassettes (couldn't really record those too easily) and the new fangled cassettes tapes (they wanted to keep 8 tracks the standard - ugh). Now they have the double whammy. CD recorders with p2p and a very down economy. I really think the lost revenue their whinning about goes a lot deeper then Napster clones.
Re:Another Article from the Entertainment Biz
on
Shutting down Kazaa
·
· Score: 1
Yep, pretty much hits that nail on the head. I'm beginning to think that those in power in the recording industry are more clueless about the internet and modern end-user technologies than those in Washington - and that's pretty clueless IMHO.
Yep! Exactly. And that's the way the labels like and want it. You do the work, cut their costs and give them something they can market and all's the better for everyone. I mean lets face it, this is/. - home of the geeks. I can spend a fairly modest amount to get software that does much of what the studios do. I can put together a nice sounding disc, take if to a reputable and capable local studio with an engineer that has some talent for a reasonable price and get state of the art and a production quality product. The Labels love this, it's cheap and all they have to do is put it to press. The real money is about marketing and distribution. If they don't have to fork out bucks for recording and preproduction they're all the happier. And if they don't pick up you with a contract/option then they're still ahead less the time they spent listening to it and deciding if they can market it or not.
And like you said, your basically signing a distribution contract. Unless your really out of the loop and sign away all your rights the music "you" made it's yours and not the labels. I have a friend in Garbage and this person signed a contract that can't be broken - essentially for life. When this person signed it they were young and niave. They have since signed other deals that are only somewhat better IMHO. If they knew now what they didn't know then....!
*Studio time
Ok, true enough. It depends on whether or not the band/artists is using the labels studio or contracting their own. It's "far" less expensive to go to a local studio with up to date equipment.
*Studio personel
Most bands don't get the "high priced producers. Many Many bands do their own production - in concert with those local studios or someone they contract themsleves. Only the Major artists get the in-house producers that are worth a damn. Most get some middle teir or freelance guy to do this. The labels are fairly indesciminant - if they can get away with it they'll screw however they can if they think they'll get the product they're looking for.
*Hotel/food
Ha, ya right. Most bands (unless you big and make them lots of money) don't get hotel rooms. If you're lucky they rent you an apartment, usually a 5 member band gets a 2 bedroom. And for the food most get a stipend when and if they are signed. So there's some cost to this but most the time bands are on their own - let's remember that most bands/artist don't go the way of Britteny Spears, etc..
*Tour Support
Now we're talking in the machine big time. You think they're gonna sport you a tour, even as a opening back up act if you're not A) on the hook bigtime, B) showing "definite" signs that the product has a potential to sell, C) are a production group constructed from the get go to fill a Label nitch that's booming. Most bands that are even somewhat lucky may get a Winnebago and a series of club dates that are already on contract and assures that the label will get their cut. This is a common test bed to see if a band has "what it takes" to be a national touring candidate. Tier two would be to do a regional tour, say of the eastern seaboard or the south as a warm up act. This can cost money but is often in conjucntion with a successful touring group that assures a profits based on the main acts drawing power - again the label gets it's cut.
As far as the rest of the list - this is much later down the line then the initial process in place, with the exception of the "Cost of CDs" and Image consultant. Outside of that most of this falls under the purview of a "marketing" department and the primary rep.
In the old days (70's and early-mid 80's) most band made "demos" with a tape. Then during the transition from analog to digital there was the DAT. With a fairly good DAT if the production was done with a degree of quality a master could be made. In the present and near past CDs replaced those analog and DAT tapes. Most reps used to have a large cardboard box in their offices filled with tapes from bands sending in their demos. Me and my friends used to run into the office and snag a few to use as scratch pads to work out ideas - we got into the habit of actually listening to them 'cause some of this stuff was very good - but no hope in hell of getting signed because it's all about the rep and the marketing departments. With CDs being the major form that most groups use (and actually the reps automatically throw 99% of tapes/DAT straight into the trash these days) The bands/groups are judge by two criteria now. A) Is the product marketable - who cares if it's actually good music. Does it fill a slot in the market demographics and can they run with it? B) is the demo quality of such that they can cycle it into producttion. (most of them are now complete full length works with between 8 to 12 songs). Most bands do all the upfront work way before the rep and the label will even consider using them in the majority of cases. The model your portraying is fairly old and usually used only for those that are have a fair degree of market success. Most bands do the vast amount of production/pre-production work themselves or with a lesser label. The major labels prefer it this way because having a band use either their own resources or those of a local/lesser label buffers them from the costs you've mentioned. If and when a band show pallitable potential for profit will any of the labels that count start to kick money into your product in the form of marketing/advertising, large tours, and mass distribution and payola for the stations (and the stations and payola is another issue all together - especially if you try to figure out the connection between independent online radio and the labels -- then it get sortid, but I digress).
Ya, the label can take a loss, but believe me they have figure out a mechinism to alleviate these potential losses as much as possible, such as I've mentioned about have the bands do most of the initial leg work before the labels get in deep.
Most of the figures about how much it costs to produce an actual disc are inflated to further the RIAA and those the contract thems contentions that they incure heavy losses by pirating and unremitted expenses of production that would be recouped by sales. While there is "some" truth to this the major problem related to a decrease in revenue is due to the labels holding on to outdated and archaic business models in conjunction with their inability to realize the most of the product they're producing and marketing is considered junk. Thier primary target is 15 to 23 year olds, with a secondary market for market for the 27 to 40 year olds. What P2P sharing and online music has done for those that buy music is to introduce a wider range of music to listen to. Compare the fact that some 18 year old might actually like Steely Dan, Older Yes, Bowie, Return to Forever, Jeff Beck (you mean there's another Beck?), QueensRhyche, etc.., etc... Just use any popular P2P and type in a few old names and a few current artists and I find the mix is about equal. But try to get this vintage material in a store -- good luck. My contention is that if the Label could manage to pull their heads out of their arses and get it setup so they used the P2P to go to market they would see their profits boom. And the major reason would be the cost difference between pumping out thousands upon thousand of plastic disks verses having them digitize it to a file and then having the consumer pay to access a file to download. Production cost savings, a wider range of music (providing that they dig out some of the older stuff and make it accsessible - which is plausible in relation to pumping out CDs, and less overhead because it's more cost effective to have one file on a server that the user can duplicate then the cost of duplication all those CDs. This model won't make the record distributers or those in the business of making CDs happy but the Labels stand to make a mint - so what's holding them back? Could be in fact those that make the CDs and the record stores that sell them?
Ya, this may be all too true. My one contention with this is consumer acceptance. Remember Intel's unique cpu ID? That went over like a lead balloon. Just wait 'till people get a hold of PC hardware that blocks the use of programs they're used to normally running. Now they can't, they go to various new groups and chat forums and figure out that It's not the program but HP's latest "innovative" new PC - the word gets out and the sales drop. And for those that build their own - I gaurantee they'll find a vendor that will give them their plain old vanilla mobo, hard drive, or whatever that will not have this crap embedded on it. Then the word gets out and that vendors sales boom. They'll (the OEMs) only go along with it as long as they think it won't hurt their market share and sale targets. When it begins to show negative market value they'll drop as fast as they can and start the damage and spin control.
As a R.N. the nature of "addiction" is classified by two (2) aspect. A) tolerence: the physiologic adaptation of cell receptors to a specific chemical compound. In other words the more a chemical binds to a given cell receptor (or set of cell receptors) the less impact said chemical has to illicit a response for the give chemical signal - this is part of the negative feedback loop. B) the other component of addiction is dependency: Wherein chemicals that are not intrinsically/internally produced supplant those chemical compounds that are. An example is the naturally produced endorphines compounds- a morphine like compound produced by glands that interfere with certain neural pathways/process. Introducing Heroin supplants the activity of these glands which inturn atrophy and hence are not capable of producing the previous amount of the endorphines as before - at least in the short term. Hence what happens in addiction is two fold. One part is the tolerance wherein the amount of the foriegn chemical has to be increased to obtain the same level of effect, and in doing so produces dependency because when the desired level of the chemical is not reached the innate ablility of the glands that produce the anologous compound are unable to meet the need. End result is that the individual seeks to acquire the suppliment in order to avoid untoward physiologic states - the more you do herion the more you need and the harder it is to kick because in the interim you physiologic state becomes unstable.
This hold true especially for alcoholics going through withdrawl because they become so physiologically unstable that if not properly treated they will end up in the ICU, intubated on a respirator, with fuild/nutritional support and having to be monitored constantly to provide physioligic homeostasis (in the form of keeping electolytes balanced, etc...). The same hold true for amphetamines - which supplant the activity of Serotonin and hence causes depression which is at times related to incidents of suicide. When the issue of more cerebral forms of addiction are addressed, such as gambling or sex, many of the same components are found to be in play (though the extent of there parts is only understood to a limited extent in light of present scientific knowledge base).
Your fairly correct in your assumption that about people trying to fill a "void" in order to fulfill a need or desire and hence is considered a form of complusion (we won't go into the area of the continuum of obssessive/complusive behaviors or pathologies). Suffice to say that in actuality, most people that become addicted to pain medication (morphine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, etc) on a percentage basis constitute ~0.0001% of those treated with these medication (I can point you to the myriad of clinical studies to support this claim). Though while true that many cases are examples of both short term use and non-recreational usage, those that engage in recreational use of any activity (drug abuse, gamble, sex, - or dare I say gaming) are doing so to fulfill a desire to gain an "experience".
While it is true that in order for people to break free of addictive behaviors is contingent on their need to accept their role in the behavior (to be "out of denial"), it must be understood that many have a genetic predisposition to addictive, obsessive, and/or compulsive behaviors. Given this fact humans have a long history of exploiting these behaviors in order to control others. In otherwords it is quite concievable to design products (either those that have a direct phyisical impact or those that have a more behavioral impact) that exploit these predispositions.
I myself am a gaming addict. I have found myself online playing hours of games when I should be doing other things and have to consciously control my compulsions. It is often a vehicle of avoidance or escape. Pair this with the social aspect I have encountered by being part of a "clan" and this can be very compelling to engage in. It's is all about understanding ones own behaviors and tendencies. If your "in touch" (forgive the term) with yourself and understand your own behaviors one can actively control their behaviors. Understand that it's a two way street. People have "addictive" tendencies (some more than other - there's that genetic thing again) and there are those that are more than willing to exploit these (either by design or habit) to meet there own needs or disires.
I can see how EQ would be designed to exploit this behavior set. I can see the players looking to "experience" something and finding that after a while it becomes a matter of contention because it's not meeting their needs or expectations. Solution: find something to supplant this. If EQ becomes negative experience and a source of frustration then find something to replace it. Try another game, or better yet learn to program, design maps, skins, mods, get a girlfriend/boyfriend, call your parents, go to the mall, see a movie, get a job, go to college, anything - if it's that unenjoyable drop it like the bad habit it has become.
Ok, this is what bothers me at the face of the article. All this talk about music and movie piracy by common citizens using p2p has got the entertainment industry trying to force hardware OEM's and the congress to succumb to their need to "secure" their profit and revenue stream. So, we see laws that give them the right to hack networks and servers they "suspect" has illegal copies of their material (e.g. anything mp3!). So they bust into U.S. military academies and get a bunch of officer cadets punished or thrown out of the service and ruin potential careers. Now, the thing that bothers me most is this movie isn't scheduled to be released to the public until the 18th of December. Ya, I know about pre-screenings and promotionals and that critics get viewings and copies as well. It just seems to me that the entertainment industry is scape goating the public for it's own ineptitude. They can't even control the sharks in their own pool. I mean how the hell did people in China get copies of this. Talk about unsecure media. It didn't just magically appear one day in the tray of someones DVD player. Some insider was either sloppy or down right criminal (to use the MPAA/RIAA's take on pirates). It just seems hyporcritical for these guys to talk about all the lost revenue they are suffering when their own people are selling them out. Someone somewhere got a copy of this burned a few 100K of them and is celling them for peanuts and this person was most likely handed the master by someone in the movie industry - talk about giving it up on a gold platter. So, I have little sorrow for them, they're their own worst enemy and have no one to blame but themsleves IMHO.
"In competing against Sony, Nokia and Ericsson (none of whom are likely to miss tricks the way IBM did in the 1980s), Microsoft are discovering what it's like to be on the receiving end."
Well, if they haven't figured this out yet M$ is not as smart as they'd like to think they are, or as you mentioned they need to find new markets because no dividends = has to keep dbl.digit growth or sell out starts to happen panic strikes because the only way to secure any cash for M$ stock is to sell it and then mass profit taking = oops for M$ big time (and they know it --- shhhh!!). Ehr, translation - M$ is getting a bit desperate?
What I find funny is their insistance of going against big time players in markets they're not able to control the Old Fashioned way (e.g the same way that ended them up in Anti-trust litigation). I mean let's look at it in similar terms... Isn't Sony kicking their ass in the console gaming market? Have you been to a Best Buy or Electronic Boutique lately and actually looked at the number of PS/PS2 games vs the amount of XBox games? And the market sales numbers are pretty telling as well.
"The real solution here, as elsewhere, is for open source to give consumers something innovative that makes Office obsolete."
Yep, and that would be....? How about a product that is interoperable, has a low sticker price, and liberal license terms. It's pretty much after the fact. And your absolutely right about why most people use what they do -- their bosses have it installed in the office. Now the tables turn. The economy is tight, most forcasts of IT spending budget of about 5 to 10% of the overall corporate budget. Buy Office 11 and all the per seat licenses is pretty much gonna drain a large amount of an IT departments budget. The problem is two fold. A) since most of the previous documents are store/filed away in the present MS format, so where's the product that will afford the company to use any old files. B) Say there is an office suite/word processor program that does allow you access to all those old MS formatted files - Is one sure that they are able to convince the one holding the purse strings that it's feasible and adoption of a new Office suite won't mean everyone needs to be trained on it?
"no one would be able to monopolize the market by using obscure file format. But atleast this way, the war will move to "Content Creation" areas. Vendors will hopefull try to compete to include support for additional Document Models."
Well, sorry to say but this is the reason tha M$ using it's document format. They figured out a long time ago that once you get the majority market share that moving away from standards that implement interoperability ensures that if anyone wants to read the majority of document formats that they "must" buy the product that currently has the largest market share -- Just ask Corel.
Once M$ office/word got above the 50% point in share they started to implement their own version of document standards. It didn't take long before pretty much everyone was singing the M$ Office Suite tune.
Pretty much answers your question. It's linux/java based, has a fairly comprehensive applications and accessories list, is developed by Sharp. And frankly it's received very good reviews. Has a modem card(mobile or 56k), camera card, wireless lan, nic, IBM microdrive/SD/CF memory cards, etc.
Good point. But if I may suggest that the Japanese have a tendency to get things moving in a big way (though coming to a consensus and decision is the time consuming part).
If they do indeed decide to make a switch, at least in some sectors - i.e. the government, it will become a national priority and you can bet on it getting full attention for it's implimentation.
If ports and rewites need to be done they will be. As far as the security people wanting, needing, to run all the programs the people they are spying on run as well. I don't see this as a problem. I find that the Japanese are extremely well educated, capable, and have a crushing work ethic. As far as spying is concerned I'm sure they already took that into consideration. They Japanese have a penchant for spying and a long history of doing so - on each other and those from the outside.
I do believe your correct in you assumption that this would take at least one, if not two, computer life cycles though.
Well, your partially right. There are three forms of writing and there associated characters. Hirigana, Kata-Kana, and Kanji.
Hirigana and Kata-kata are more of a variations on their phonems. they were invented to express and pronounce foreign or technologic words while adhering to their language phonems. They have no real R or L (in a western sense), it's a combination of the two and they have a hard (as westeners pronounce it) and a soft "F" (pronounced like an "h"), etc,... So on the Japanese keyboards there's a special key for bringing up characters in all three forms for a specific word or phonem. An example would be my wifes name - Fujiko. If she were to spell "Fuji" phonetically she could use Hirigana or Kata-kana to do so, press that special key and a list would come up with variations of the phonems used to pronounce FUJI as well and the Kanji (adopted Chinese character) to choose from - Fuji, for example can mean Mt. Fuji or the Westeria flower and have dedicate Kanji (Chinese symbolic) characters associated with the word/s Fuji. So depending on the word a whole set of altenative characters and words are (and need to be) presented. The amount of Kanji (symbolic pictographs, rather than phonetically based) characters are so numurous that not even the Japanese can remember which symbol is used in which context for which word. But this is not a new advent for western languages either. Consider the umlout or the accent. And then there's Cyrillic, Slavic, Middle Eastern, etc, etc,... in use today.
As far as presenting any sort of challenge to implimenting this system into a linux boxen, I don't see it as a problem. I know for a fact that this exist in many Unix systems used in Japan and porting this to Linux is a given and non-issue IMHO.
Also consider, though I can't verify it. But I don't believe there's isn't any sort of BSA in Japan. I just returned from two weeks there. So M$ will have to rely on the hard sell and the Japanese are extremely purdent business men and women. M$ will not have any sort of BSA to run around and intimidate the small business. Any Westener that tries tactics used in the States will find he's politely being ignored. As far as Linux in the end user market. Well, that's another story. The Japanese IMHO are far more on the cutting edge of technology than the U.S in comsumer computing and electronic. Everyone, and I mean everyone - accept the very old - uses advanced cell phone technolgies. They are the first to mass produce altenative vehicles - combo gas and electric cars. they plan to use GPS location in all their new car models. So adoption of Linux on a wide spread basis has a very good chance if the powers that be deem it need be so. Although I did go to a section in Tokyo named Akihabara which contains a very large and vast amount of computer products (kinda like a retail shopping section dedicated to computers and electronic devices exclusively). I didn't see a lot of Linux in the stores, but then it's such a vast area and I could have literally spent a week there and not seen everything. Anyway, the populus and mentallity of the Japanese people is one of compliance.
If it is deemed that a switch to Linux is mandated by the decision makers then you can damn well bet that the Japanese will learn to use it en-mass. It's not there custom to complain. If there boss comes to the employees and tells them they will be switching and that they will all have to get up to speed with Linux I can guarantee they will do there homework - it's expected and no self respecting Japanese would dare be caught as being the odd man (or woman) out.
Case in point. For most middle and upper management. The 60 hour work week is the norm - 10 hours a day and 6 days a week. And this includes all sectors. My father in law works these hours and I know quite a few others that do the same.
Given the Japanese work ethic and expected participation regarding being up to speed and proficient - You can rely on the their abililty to get on line as it were
Its also has to do with a Lame Duck congress. Those that were sitting on the fence because they could make up their minds now say screw it,we're either on our way out, in the minority next session, or if I want to get funding for my next cammpaign nows the time to kiss the RIAA's/MPAA"S ass and get that campaign payola and see if I can swing some discounts on air time productions.
Let's face it, about twice a century congress will actually do something worthwhile. Most of the majority of the time they are catering to the deep pockets. It's been that way in America for a long time. Case in point. most of the labor, child labor, mandatory education, workers rights, unionization, took place at the turn of the century (that's the 19th to the 20th). Then WWII, a mass shift in technologios, move on to the formation of Medicare, child welfare laws, the Great Society, etc.. I'm not advocating or criticizing either way. I'm just pointing out that the only time congress pulls their heads out of the deep pockets or gazes away from the corporate buyline is in times of turmoil. Now, today, we see a strange twist (though McCarthyism can be seen with the Red Scare) to the need for better diligence. And side issues, and side articles attached to legislative bills, is now the trend. HomeLand Security, Mandated HIPAA constrants on client information, and why not throw in the needs of the corporation to protect themselves as well by selctive enforcement of copyrights, anti trust, etc. It all falls along the generic rights of diligence and protectionisms. At least in a legislators eyes.
As far as conflicts with the DMCA, we're dealing with a possible conflict between federal and state laws. EULA's are a different matter IMHO. Normally, any statute will superside most business contracts or licensing conditions that come into conflict. It's like, a license stipulates that you agree to "X" condition in order to use/install a given piece of software. Essentially the user is ceding a right in order to use a product. However if the law, either implicitally or explicitally states that certain violations of certain rights or prohibits certain actions that one would find in an EULA, i.e. as stated before, you relinquish a right by agreeing to condition "X". then condition "X" is non-enforceble in the license because it essentially violates the conditions of a statute.
Now, the question arises - Who is the one that has the mandate to disclose? One would presume that the "public business" would be the one - as per the mandate of the statute. However I wonder just how one would know when a said break in happened?
So, company Y was broken into, hacked, cracked, and/or pilferred (let's say for user/member info - e.g. personal info or credit cards #'s). How exactly is this info about the break in or breach to be released?
I would like to point out why companies don't like to do this. While in security training a tale about a major bank a how they got ripped of was told.
A security guard that was stationed at a major deposit/holding vault decided to take one $1 million bearer bond for 30 days. The guard had worked at this particular vault for quite a few years and had explicit knowledge of it's workings and routines (e.g. the cycle of audits, how often certain products and materials were used). So the guard understood that his chance of success was high. After 30 days (translated into $30 million in bearers bond) the guard took the 1st flight to Brazil, deposited the $30 million at 100% interest (yes, that's right 100% annual) and laid back (and low) for a year. After that year he hired the best lawyer money could but (which one would presume was a pretty good lawyer) and had the lawyer contact said bank. Mind you the man has now $300 million dollars in a Brazilian bank. He offered to return the original $30 million plus a nice percentage on top to the bank if they agreed not to pursue the matter. The bank was more than happy to do so - they got the money back and made a nice little extra on top. As soon as the deal was done the man returned to the United States to live in the lap of luxury. The bank never reports the incident in the 1st place due to embarassment - would you deposit you money in a bank that had such lax security (the bank reasoned).
The point is that most major companies or corporations avoid this kind of bad press like medival Europeans avoided the Black Death. I can't see how any company would be anywhere near compliant with this statute. Like wise the law would be best used for whistle blowers. A security flaw is uncovered that the institution would like to keep a lid on. And, as is often the case, it puts it's investors and member/client's at some risk. So, the fineties of this statute are going to be of interest. Will it help to secure investors and consumers or just be a paper tiger?
Who said anything about the government being the one who sets the standard? There are many standards bodies that have little or nothing to do with governments, such as in engineering, electronics, etc... I was just pointing out that certain standards in the compurer industry are set by a certain corporation that has a near 95% market share in some sectors (like the desktop) and this standard is often held in propriety.
Our in otherwords, it's referred to a "Pax Microsoftia". Many advances have come along due to the reality of the Pax Microsftia but at what cost? Standards determined not by a governing body but by a corporate manifesto for dominance?
Common computing environments that also serve to quash competition and further advancements?
Just like the Pax Romania, many advances were/are gained but at what cost? And how will history record this when it's but a distant memory?
The industrial age is past and the dawn of the imformation age is at hand. And at the forefront of the this new day is Microsoft. How long will the Empire reign? The down fall of the Roman Empire was due to it's own complacency and arrogance, along with uncontrollable forces from outside the empire. IMHO, I predict a similar end to the Pax Microsoftia.
In reference to the Gift economy. His point about zero sum related to actually produce media is essentially correct. Let's quickly recap the old way of doing things, Ya know back when it was essentially vinyl disks called -- records. Now, remember that back then most of the "high" tech professional recording equipment was expensive and acually needed someone that understood how it worked and how to operate it. Hence the need for recording technicians. Recording and mastering a record became an art and this is most evident in the late 60's through the 70's. From Bob Dylan and the Beatles to Pink Floyd and Yes, etc... If you were a musicain you generally accepted the notion that in order to have both a quality of product and any hope of national exposure that you (and your band) had to get "signed" by a major label. The major labels would "front" the band the money to do such things as buy descent equipment, pay for a modicum of living expenses, and most importantly -- pay to have the studio time, the technicians, and master work produced (and remember that most major labels had all of this and more in-house). If it was donned by the Reps that the product had at least some potential then it went to press and a more lucrative contract was drawn up (but not necessarily). Mind you that most common contracts gave the band (or single musicain) about 2 to 3 points (as in percentage) for every thing that made a profit. This was common for new bands (if you became popular you of course were in a position to barter the percentage, especially at renewal time). Well, say your album goes gold and you sell 100K+ albums, this is where you profits are made, and the tours are made to pay back the expense of the studio, etc.. (e.g. I remember RUSH during the G under P tour - Dallas/Fortworth put them over the top at the tour halfway point= lots of extra profit). So, in order to get anywhere you absolutely needed the "major labels" to really get the push (though many small labels were a starting point - the big guys made it happen). Therefore, It was the RIAA's way or the highway.
Fast foward to today. Technology such as can be bought at any descent music store and a descent computer with the right software and "who needs the major labels to produce a quality of product"? You've just save yourself a step and reduced you costs. But you still need marketing/advertising, distribution, and air time. Oops, back to the major label? Not anymore! Gee, this thing called the internet is great for people to get exposure. And hey I know a guy that builds "rad" websites! And the local recording studio will master and print/press CDs of about 1000 for X amount of money (which is considerably less then anything the Labels would offer you or lead you to believe even existed). So, now there's these web sites like MP3.com, and this.com and that.com that will let us post/upload some of your stuff. And, they include a link to our website which tell's them how to get a (professional quality) CD of your music. Ya, sum slug will buy the CD and then copy the tracks to his/her download directory and then we possibly loss potential revenue. But alot of people are buying the CD as well and were making money --- Without The Need For the RIAA Machine! Now take into account some of the ideas posted in this forum and perhaps you might, just might come to the conclusion that I see. The RIAA is most definately worried about piracy, but more over they're really worried about being cut out, circumvented, displaced, blah, blah...
So, how to cope with this? Make it impossible to play any media that doesn't have the right code/authorization embedding in it and then put this on the hardware side of all those devices that play any sort of media. Therefore any cdrom, DVD, etc... won't play if the authorization stuff isn't on the disk -- it's not authenticated and just spins down. Ya. this stuff prevents pirated ware but also forces the RIAA's "it's our way or the highway" paradigm on everyone. The musician, the consumer, the OEM's etc...
This is to me what DRM is all about. Not protecting my rights as a musician or a music listener. But forcing me to adhere to a source and product that some corporation or conglomurate has decided is the only one I'm allowed to use. If my band sucks then the RIAA will decide, not the consumer, because the RIAA has everything figured out,... what I'll wear, what my personal bio will read like, how my hair looks, and the type of music I play. If I suck but have the right look the RIAA's machine will take care of that and I'm still a star. So much good music is obscured because the RIAA and it's label can't quite figure out which market category it fits into and I have had a few excellent musicains friends get signed and shelved (which is a way to get a band out of circulation - sign them and then do nothing - they die on the vine). I'm tired of the RIAA decide what I do and don't like, and the internet and all the present day technology makes it possible for the musician to connect directly with any potential audience -- which is exactly what the RIAA and the Major Labels don't want, otherwise they'll become obsolete and they know it!
The WIND SHIFTS...! Oh I can see it now, I'm going down my stairs, headed for work on a blustery day, and then a 40 mph wind takes a 45 to 90 degree shift. Gee, I'm gonna love trying to explain this one to my health insurance agent. "Ya see sir my house is designed to rotate in the wind, and well it was a very windy day...."(health insurance agent tries to keep from snickering out loud while reaching for the record but and waving the rest of the claims agents over). Not to mention that if the area where you live is particularly wind does that mean that essentially everything in the house has to be bolted down or secured in some way?
Oh ya, can survive a hurricane, but don't trying this in the tornado belt.... And you thought this plane would never fly?
I'd like to see the disclaimer on this guys contract.
And the scary thing is... Someone bought one and is actually living in it?!?!
O'k, guess it takes all kinds. In situations such as these - please refer to my sig.
"Volume licensing agreements pretty much spell out that they have the right to conduct an audit."
This only works if you actually have a "volume license" or any MS license. If I'm using OSS and the BSA shows up at my door (perhaps I had a license, it expired and I didn't renew it) I am under absolutely no obligation to speak to them, let alone allow them into my business/premises.
If they persist then I call the police and if they're there when the police show up make a citizens arrest (get a few employees to be witnesses). I guarantee they won't be back. Especially after you prove to the Judge when hearing at the harassment and public nussance hearing you arrested them for that you are not violating any "licensing" agreement because don't have a license and don't need one.
Remember, you can only get caught in the M$ snare if you agree to play their game -- buy M$ software and sign a license. Remember, by agreeing to any license agreement, providing it doesn't break criminal or constitutional law, you often agree to give up certain rights in order to enter into a contract. If you don't have any M$ software than it's a mute point. Oh, and as for OEM boxes with pre-installed windows -- ask to have them blank, no installed OS. If they refuse find someone that will.
Slashdot Mirror
They are lightweight, fast and configurable. If you have a competent admin, these WMs can be set up to do the job nicely in situations were resources are an issue.
Uh, NASA and "the space race" was created not out of an overwhelming desire to explore. It was an advent of the Cold War. If the Soviets are going to space they must surely have an alterior motive in line with their plans to rule the world ( the underlaying sentiment of the day). Also, it was a propaganda vehicle that was used to prove to the world that "the American way of life" was more innovative, freer, and productive. Now I'm not espousing these ideals or mores. I'm simply relating what I know from growing up in the 60s. The fact the their (Soviet) German scientist managed to send a rocket into space before our (U.S.) German scientist managed to do it was viewed as an embarrassment and threat to the U.S. political machine.
I have nothing against any particular nationality mentioned in this post. And some of the other posters, rightly IMHO, point out the early European settlers came to America to escape pursectution and not out of some sense of adventure or wonderlust. The people native to this continent had been here for thousands of years before the European societies would even recognize the reality that there was another continent and that the world was indeed "not" flat.
The U.S government and the U.N., European commonwealth, etc.., etc..., are going to base such things as nonproliferations treaties, trade agreements dealing with commodities like automobiles, parts, durables goods, etc, on a file sharing program. "No you can't join NATO because you're nation won't shut down a music sharing server? Do these words ring a bell - Pirated software, People Rebublic of China, Free Trade Agreement, and "MOST FAVORED NATION TRADING STATUS!!!!!
:-/
Ya, the RIAA/MPAA and it's parent subscribers issued an order to Congress and the Administration - "If Estonia won't shut Kazaa down and you want campaign money you'll pursuade them even if it means sending in a few dozen cruise missles to hit those damn servers"
Ya, sure - Ok.
"can you explain why CD sales are just recently decreasing?"
Possibly because the economy has been tanking for the last few years and over that time more people are having financial issues. Like one poster commented earlier that people that have to tighten their belts will have to choose between CDs or food and rent - where do you think their money is gonna go?
I'm not sure about the impact on p2p. Yes I knew a few people that had large amount of mp3 from Napster, but they were few in numbers. Then there are those that have a small amount of mp3s but don't want to spend alot of time dl'ing music (perhaps they have a life outside of burning pirated mp3s).
But I for one, being a musician for over 30 years have frankly become disinterested in buying music (I used to buy music frequently and in large numbers). I have better things to do with my money. Back when "records" were the only thing I would be able to afford them with little thought about the impact on my budget. Now I just don't see the value in paying $20 for a CD that I'm only interested in hearing less than half the songs on it. if it were around $10 or $12 that might change things. But 20 bucks for four songs out of an album - nah I'll pass. I'd rather save my money to pay off my loans, buy a house, make my car payments, etc.... And while were at it, could it be that the cost of doing business for the recording industry has risen as well so profits are down - they're not immune to the econmic crunch either. Perhaps their just doing a little scape-goating. Ya, I don't doubt that p2p might be cutting in on their revenue stream, but I have a hard time buy into their contentions that it's as big of a factor as they would have us think. They said the same thing about cassette tapes and video recordings - now they make a mint form video recordings and CDs replaced albums and tapes became a non-factor shortly after (the car stereo cdplayer that didn't skip everytimg you hit a small bump made that possible). So, they put records albums out of the picture but cassette tapes meant you could still record music. Then tapes became unpopular and cd recorders became the big thing - they crumbled a bit, but not so much. Probably because they didn't see p2p comming. Now their back to the same problem they had when things changed from the 8 track cassettes (couldn't really record those too easily) and the new fangled cassettes tapes (they wanted to keep 8 tracks the standard - ugh). Now they have the double whammy. CD recorders with p2p and a very down economy. I really think the lost revenue their whinning about goes a lot deeper then Napster clones.
Yep, pretty much hits that nail on the head. I'm beginning to think that those in power in the recording industry are more clueless about the internet and modern end-user technologies than those in Washington - and that's pretty clueless IMHO.
Yep! Exactly. And that's the way the labels like and want it. You do the work, cut their costs and give them something they can market and all's the better for everyone. I mean lets face it, this is /. - home of the geeks. I can spend a fairly modest amount to get software that does much of what the studios do. I can put together a nice sounding disc, take if to a reputable and capable local studio with an engineer that has some talent for a reasonable price and get state of the art and a production quality product. The Labels love this, it's cheap and all they have to do is put it to press. The real money is about marketing and distribution. If they don't have to fork out bucks for recording and preproduction they're all the happier. And if they don't pick up you with a contract/option then they're still ahead less the time they spent listening to it and deciding if they can market it or not.
And like you said, your basically signing a distribution contract. Unless your really out of the loop and sign away all your rights the music "you" made it's yours and not the labels. I have a friend in Garbage and this person signed a contract that can't be broken - essentially for life. When this person signed it they were young and niave. They have since signed other deals that are only somewhat better IMHO. If they knew now what they didn't know then....!
*Studio time
Ok, true enough. It depends on whether or not the band/artists is using the labels studio or contracting their own. It's "far" less expensive to go to a local studio with up to date equipment.
*Studio personel
Most bands don't get the "high priced producers. Many Many bands do their own production - in concert with those local studios or someone they contract themsleves. Only the Major artists get the in-house producers that are worth a damn. Most get some middle teir or freelance guy to do this. The labels are fairly indesciminant - if they can get away with it they'll screw however they can if they think they'll get the product they're looking for.
*Hotel/food
Ha, ya right. Most bands (unless you big and make them lots of money) don't get hotel rooms. If you're lucky they rent you an apartment, usually a 5 member band gets a 2 bedroom. And for the food most get a stipend when and if they are signed. So there's some cost to this but most the time bands are on their own - let's remember that most bands/artist don't go the way of Britteny Spears, etc..
*Tour Support
Now we're talking in the machine big time. You think they're gonna sport you a tour, even as a opening back up act if you're not A) on the hook bigtime, B) showing "definite" signs that the product has a potential to sell, C) are a production group constructed from the get go to fill a Label nitch that's booming. Most bands that are even somewhat lucky may get a Winnebago and a series of club dates that are already on contract and assures that the label will get their cut. This is a common test bed to see if a band has "what it takes" to be a national touring candidate. Tier two would be to do a regional tour, say of the eastern seaboard or the south as a warm up act. This can cost money but is often in conjucntion with a successful touring group that assures a profits based on the main acts drawing power - again the label gets it's cut.
As far as the rest of the list - this is much later down the line then the initial process in place, with the exception of the "Cost of CDs" and Image consultant. Outside of that most of this falls under the purview of a "marketing" department and the primary rep.
In the old days (70's and early-mid 80's) most band made "demos" with a tape. Then during the transition from analog to digital there was the DAT. With a fairly good DAT if the production was done with a degree of quality a master could be made. In the present and near past CDs replaced those analog and DAT tapes. Most reps used to have a large cardboard box in their offices filled with tapes from bands sending in their demos. Me and my friends used to run into the office and snag a few to use as scratch pads to work out ideas - we got into the habit of actually listening to them 'cause some of this stuff was very good - but no hope in hell of getting signed because it's all about the rep and the marketing departments. With CDs being the major form that most groups use (and actually the reps automatically throw 99% of tapes/DAT straight into the trash these days)
The bands/groups are judge by two criteria now. A) Is the product marketable - who cares if it's actually good music. Does it fill a slot in the market demographics and can they run with it? B) is the demo quality of such that they can cycle it into producttion. (most of them are now complete full length works with between 8 to 12 songs). Most bands do all the upfront work way before the rep and the label will even consider using them in the majority of cases. The model your portraying is fairly old and usually used only for those that are have a fair degree of market success. Most bands do the vast amount of production/pre-production work themselves or with a lesser label. The major labels prefer it this way because having a band use either their own resources or those of a local/lesser label buffers them from the costs you've mentioned. If and when a band show pallitable potential for profit will any of the labels that count start to kick money into your product in the form of marketing/advertising, large tours, and mass distribution and payola for the stations (and the stations and payola is another issue all together - especially if you try to figure out the connection between independent online radio and the labels -- then it get sortid, but I digress).
Ya, the label can take a loss, but believe me they have figure out a mechinism to alleviate these potential losses as much as possible, such as I've mentioned about have the bands do most of the initial leg work before the labels get in deep.
Most of the figures about how much it costs to produce an actual disc are inflated to further the RIAA and those the contract thems contentions that they incure heavy losses by pirating and unremitted expenses of production that would be recouped by sales. While there is "some" truth to this the major problem related to a decrease in revenue is due to the labels holding on to outdated and archaic business models in conjunction with their inability to realize the most of the product they're producing and marketing is considered junk. Thier primary target is 15 to 23 year olds, with a secondary market for market for the 27 to 40 year olds. What P2P sharing and online music has done for those that buy music is to introduce a wider range of music to listen to. Compare the fact that some 18 year old might actually like Steely Dan, Older Yes, Bowie, Return to Forever, Jeff Beck (you mean there's another Beck?), QueensRhyche, etc.., etc... Just use any popular P2P and type in a few old names and a few current artists and I find the mix is about equal. But try to get this vintage material in a store -- good luck. My contention is that if the Label could manage to pull their heads out of their arses and get it setup so they used the P2P to go to market they would see their profits boom. And the major reason would be the cost difference between pumping out thousands upon thousand of plastic disks verses having them digitize it to a file and then having the consumer pay to access a file to download. Production cost savings, a wider range of music (providing that they dig out some of the older stuff and make it accsessible - which is plausible in relation to pumping out CDs, and less overhead because it's more cost effective to have one file on a server that the user can duplicate then the cost of duplication all those CDs. This model won't make the record distributers or those in the business of making CDs happy but the Labels stand to make a mint - so what's holding them back? Could be in fact those that make the CDs and the record stores that sell them?
Ya, this may be all too true. My one contention with this is consumer acceptance. Remember Intel's unique cpu ID? That went over like a lead balloon. Just wait 'till people get a hold of PC hardware that blocks the use of programs they're used to normally running. Now they can't, they go to various new groups and chat forums and figure out that It's not the program but HP's latest "innovative" new PC - the word gets out and the sales drop. And for those that build their own - I gaurantee they'll find a vendor that will give them their plain old vanilla mobo, hard drive, or whatever that will not have this crap embedded on it. Then the word gets out and that vendors sales boom. They'll (the OEMs) only go along with it as long as they think it won't hurt their market share and sale targets. When it begins to show negative market value they'll drop as fast as they can and start the damage and spin control.
As a R.N. the nature of "addiction" is classified by two (2) aspect. A) tolerence: the physiologic adaptation of cell receptors to a specific chemical compound. In other words the more a chemical binds to a given cell receptor (or set of cell receptors) the less impact said chemical has to illicit a response for the give chemical signal - this is part of the negative feedback loop. B) the other component of addiction is dependency: Wherein chemicals that are not intrinsically/internally produced supplant those chemical compounds that are. An example is the naturally produced endorphines compounds- a morphine like compound produced by glands that interfere with certain neural pathways/process. Introducing Heroin supplants the activity of these glands which inturn atrophy and hence are not capable of producing the previous amount of the endorphines as before - at least in the short term. Hence what happens in addiction is two fold. One part is the tolerance wherein the amount of the foriegn chemical has to be increased to obtain the same level of effect, and in doing so produces dependency because when the desired level of the chemical is not reached the innate ablility of the glands that produce the anologous compound are unable to meet the need. End result is that the individual seeks to acquire the suppliment in order to avoid untoward physiologic states - the more you do herion the more you need and the harder it is to kick because in the interim you physiologic state becomes unstable.
This hold true especially for alcoholics going through withdrawl because they become so physiologically unstable that if not properly treated they will end up in the ICU, intubated on a respirator, with fuild/nutritional support and having to be monitored constantly to provide physioligic homeostasis (in the form of keeping electolytes balanced, etc...). The same hold true for amphetamines - which supplant the activity of Serotonin and hence causes depression which is at times related to incidents of suicide. When the issue of more cerebral forms of addiction are addressed, such as gambling or sex, many of the same components are found to be in play (though the extent of there parts is only understood to a limited extent in light of present scientific knowledge base).
Your fairly correct in your assumption that about people trying to fill a "void" in order to fulfill a need or desire and hence is considered a form of complusion (we won't go into the area of the continuum of obssessive/complusive behaviors or pathologies). Suffice to say that in actuality, most people that become addicted to pain medication (morphine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, etc) on a percentage basis constitute ~0.0001% of those treated with these medication (I can point you to the myriad of clinical studies to support this claim). Though while true that many cases are examples of both short term use and non-recreational usage, those that engage in recreational use of any activity (drug abuse, gamble, sex, - or dare I say gaming) are doing so to fulfill a desire to gain an "experience".
While it is true that in order for people to break free of addictive behaviors is contingent on their need to accept their role in the behavior (to be "out of denial"), it must be understood that many have a genetic predisposition to addictive, obsessive, and/or compulsive behaviors. Given this fact humans have a long history of exploiting these behaviors in order to control others. In otherwords it is quite concievable to design products (either those that have a direct phyisical impact or those that have a more behavioral impact) that exploit these predispositions.
I myself am a gaming addict. I have found myself online playing hours of games when I should be doing other things and have to consciously control my compulsions. It is often a vehicle of avoidance or escape. Pair this with the social aspect I have encountered by being part of a "clan" and this can be very compelling to engage in. It's is all about understanding ones own behaviors and tendencies. If your "in touch" (forgive the term) with yourself and understand your own behaviors one can actively control their behaviors. Understand that it's a two way street. People have "addictive" tendencies (some more than other - there's that genetic thing again) and there are those that are more than willing to exploit these (either by design or habit) to meet there own needs or disires.
I can see how EQ would be designed to exploit this behavior set. I can see the players looking to "experience" something and finding that after a while it becomes a matter of contention because it's not meeting their needs or expectations. Solution: find something to supplant this. If EQ becomes negative experience and a source of frustration then find something to replace it. Try another game, or better yet learn to program, design maps, skins, mods, get a girlfriend/boyfriend, call your parents, go to the mall, see a movie, get a job, go to college, anything - if it's that unenjoyable drop it like the bad habit it has become.
Ok, this is what bothers me at the face of the article. All this talk about music and movie piracy by common citizens using p2p has got the entertainment industry trying to force hardware OEM's and the congress to succumb to their need to "secure" their profit and revenue stream. So, we see laws that give them the right to hack networks and servers they "suspect" has illegal copies of their material (e.g. anything mp3!). So they bust into U.S. military academies and get a bunch of officer cadets punished or thrown out of the service and ruin potential careers. Now, the thing that bothers me most is this movie isn't scheduled to be released to the public until the 18th of December. Ya, I know about pre-screenings and promotionals and that critics get viewings and copies as well. It just seems to me that the entertainment industry is scape goating the public for it's own ineptitude. They can't even control the sharks in their own pool. I mean how the hell did people in China get copies of this. Talk about unsecure media. It didn't just magically appear one day in the tray of someones DVD player. Some insider was either sloppy or down right criminal (to use the MPAA/RIAA's take on pirates). It just seems hyporcritical for these guys to talk about all the lost revenue they are suffering when their own people are selling them out. Someone somewhere got a copy of this burned a few 100K of them and is celling them for peanuts and this person was most likely handed the master by someone in the movie industry - talk about giving it up on a gold platter. So, I have little sorrow for them, they're their own worst enemy and have no one to blame but themsleves IMHO.
Woah dude, did you swallow a "bug"?
"In competing against Sony, Nokia and Ericsson (none of whom are likely to miss tricks the way IBM did in the 1980s), Microsoft are discovering what it's like to be on the receiving end."
Well, if they haven't figured this out yet M$ is not as smart as they'd like to think they are, or as you mentioned they need to find new markets because no dividends = has to keep dbl.digit growth or sell out starts to happen panic strikes because the only way to secure any cash for M$ stock is to sell it and then mass profit taking = oops for M$ big time (and they know it --- shhhh!!). Ehr, translation - M$ is getting a bit desperate?
What I find funny is their insistance of going against big time players in markets they're not able to control the Old Fashioned way (e.g the same way that ended them up in Anti-trust litigation). I mean let's look at it in similar terms... Isn't Sony kicking their ass in the console gaming market? Have you been to a Best Buy or Electronic Boutique lately and actually looked at the number of PS/PS2 games vs the amount of XBox games? And the market sales numbers are pretty telling as well.
"The real solution here, as elsewhere, is for open source to give consumers something innovative that makes Office obsolete."
Yep, and that would be....? How about a product that is interoperable, has a low sticker price, and liberal license terms. It's pretty much after the fact. And your absolutely right about why most people use what they do -- their bosses have it installed in the office. Now the tables turn. The economy is tight, most forcasts of IT spending budget of about 5 to 10% of the overall corporate budget. Buy Office 11 and all the per seat licenses is pretty much gonna drain a large amount of an IT departments budget. The problem is two fold. A) since most of the previous documents are store/filed away in the present MS format, so where's the product that will afford the company to use any old files. B) Say there is an office suite/word processor program that does allow you access to all those old MS formatted files - Is one sure that they are able to convince the one holding the purse strings that it's feasible and adoption of a new Office suite won't mean everyone needs to be trained on it?
"no one would be able to monopolize the market by using obscure file format. But atleast this way, the war will move to "Content Creation" areas. Vendors will hopefull try to compete to include support for additional Document Models."
Well, sorry to say but this is the reason tha M$ using it's document format. They figured out a long time ago that once you get the majority market share that moving away from standards that implement interoperability ensures that if anyone wants to read the majority of document formats that they "must" buy the product that currently has the largest market share -- Just ask Corel.
Once M$ office/word got above the 50% point in share they started to implement their own version of document standards. It didn't take long before pretty much everyone was singing the M$ Office Suite tune.
http://myzaurus.com/index.asp
Pretty much answers your question. It's linux/java based, has a fairly comprehensive applications and accessories list, is developed by Sharp. And frankly it's received very good reviews. Has a modem card(mobile or 56k), camera card, wireless lan, nic, IBM microdrive/SD/CF memory cards, etc.
Check it out
Good point. But if I may suggest that the Japanese have a tendency to get things moving in a big way (though coming to a consensus and decision is the time consuming part).
If they do indeed decide to make a switch, at least in some sectors - i.e. the government, it will become a national priority and you can bet on it getting full attention for it's implimentation.
If ports and rewites need to be done they will be. As far as the security people wanting, needing, to run all the programs the people they are spying on run as well. I don't see this as a problem. I find that the Japanese are extremely well educated, capable, and have a crushing work ethic. As far as spying is concerned I'm sure they already took that into consideration. They Japanese have a penchant for spying and a long history of doing so - on each other and those from the outside.
I do believe your correct in you assumption that this would take at least one, if not two, computer life cycles though.
Well, your partially right. There are three forms of writing and there associated characters. Hirigana, Kata-Kana, and Kanji.
Hirigana and Kata-kata are more of a variations on their phonems. they were invented to express and pronounce foreign or technologic words while adhering to their language phonems. They have no real R or L (in a western sense), it's a combination of the two and they have a hard (as westeners pronounce it) and a soft "F" (pronounced like an "h"), etc,... So on the Japanese keyboards there's a special key for bringing up characters in all three forms for a specific word or phonem. An example would be my wifes name - Fujiko. If she were to spell "Fuji" phonetically she could use Hirigana or Kata-kana to do so, press that special key and a list would come up with variations of the phonems used to pronounce FUJI as well and the Kanji (adopted Chinese character) to choose from - Fuji, for example can mean Mt. Fuji or the Westeria flower and have dedicate Kanji (Chinese symbolic) characters associated with the word/s Fuji. So depending on the word a whole set of altenative characters and words are (and need to be) presented. The amount of Kanji (symbolic pictographs, rather than phonetically based) characters are so numurous that not even the Japanese can remember which symbol is used in which context for which word. But this is not a new advent for western languages either. Consider the umlout or the accent. And then there's Cyrillic, Slavic, Middle Eastern, etc, etc,... in use today.
As far as presenting any sort of challenge to implimenting this system into a linux boxen, I don't see it as a problem. I know for a fact that this exist in many Unix systems used in Japan and porting this to Linux is a given and non-issue IMHO.
Also consider, though I can't verify it. But I don't believe there's isn't any sort of BSA in Japan. I just returned from two weeks there. So M$ will have to rely on the hard sell and the Japanese are extremely purdent business men and women. M$ will not have any sort of BSA to run around and intimidate the small business. Any Westener that tries tactics used in the States will find he's politely being ignored. As far as Linux in the end user market. Well, that's another story. The Japanese IMHO are far more on the cutting edge of technology than the U.S in comsumer computing and electronic. Everyone, and I mean everyone - accept the very old - uses advanced cell phone technolgies. They are the first to mass produce altenative vehicles - combo gas and electric cars. they plan to use GPS location in all their new car models. So adoption of Linux on a wide spread basis has a very good chance if the powers that be deem it need be so. Although I did go to a section in Tokyo named Akihabara which contains a very large and vast amount of computer products (kinda like a retail shopping section dedicated to computers and electronic devices exclusively). I didn't see a lot of Linux in the stores, but then it's such a vast area and I could have literally spent a week there and not seen everything. Anyway, the populus and mentallity of the Japanese people is one of compliance.
If it is deemed that a switch to Linux is mandated by the decision makers then you can damn well bet that the Japanese will learn to use it en-mass. It's not there custom to complain. If there boss comes to the employees and tells them they will be switching and that they will all have to get up to speed with Linux I can guarantee they will do there homework - it's expected and no self respecting Japanese would dare be caught as being the odd man (or woman) out.
Case in point. For most middle and upper management. The 60 hour work week is the norm - 10 hours a day and 6 days a week. And this includes all sectors. My father in law works these hours and I know quite a few others that do the same.
Given the Japanese work ethic and expected participation regarding being up to speed and proficient - You can rely on the their abililty to get on line as it were
Its also has to do with a Lame Duck congress. Those that were sitting on the fence because they could make up their minds now say screw it,we're either on our way out, in the minority next session, or if I want to get funding for my next cammpaign nows the time to kiss the RIAA's/MPAA"S ass and get that campaign payola and see if I can swing some discounts on air time productions.
Let's face it, about twice a century congress will actually do something worthwhile. Most of the majority of the time they are catering to the deep pockets. It's been that way in America for a long time. Case in point. most of the labor, child labor, mandatory education, workers rights, unionization, took place at the turn of the century (that's the 19th to the 20th). Then WWII, a mass shift in technologios, move on to the formation of Medicare, child welfare laws, the Great Society, etc.. I'm not advocating or criticizing either way. I'm just pointing out that the only time congress pulls their heads out of the deep pockets or gazes away from the corporate buyline is in times of turmoil. Now, today, we see a strange twist (though McCarthyism can be seen with the Red Scare) to the need for better diligence. And side issues, and side articles attached to legislative bills, is now the trend. HomeLand Security, Mandated HIPAA constrants on client information, and why not throw in the needs of the corporation to protect themselves as well by selctive enforcement of copyrights, anti trust, etc. It all falls along the generic rights of diligence and protectionisms. At least in a legislators eyes.
As far as conflicts with the DMCA, we're dealing with a possible conflict between federal and state laws. EULA's are a different matter IMHO. Normally, any statute will superside most business contracts or licensing conditions that come into conflict. It's like, a license stipulates that you agree to "X" condition in order to use/install a given piece of software. Essentially the user is ceding a right in order to use a product. However if the law, either implicitally or explicitally states that certain violations of certain rights or prohibits certain actions that one would find in an EULA, i.e. as stated before, you relinquish a right by agreeing to condition "X". then condition "X" is non-enforceble in the license because it essentially violates the conditions of a statute.
Now, the question arises - Who is the one that has the mandate to disclose? One would presume that the "public business" would be the one - as per the mandate of the statute. However I wonder just how one would know when a said break in happened?
So, company Y was broken into, hacked, cracked, and/or pilferred (let's say for user/member info - e.g. personal info or credit cards #'s). How exactly is this info about the break in or breach to be released?
I would like to point out why companies don't like to do this. While in security training a tale about a major bank a how they got ripped of was told.
A security guard that was stationed at a major deposit/holding vault decided to take one $1 million bearer bond for 30 days. The guard had worked at this particular vault for quite a few years and had explicit knowledge of it's workings and routines (e.g. the cycle of audits, how often certain products and materials were used). So the guard understood that his chance of success was high. After 30 days (translated into $30 million in bearers bond) the guard took the 1st flight to Brazil, deposited the $30 million at 100% interest (yes, that's right 100% annual) and laid back (and low) for a year. After that year he hired the best lawyer money could but (which one would presume was a pretty good lawyer) and had the lawyer contact said bank. Mind you the man has now $300 million dollars in a Brazilian bank. He offered to return the original $30 million plus a nice percentage on top to the bank if they agreed not to pursue the matter. The bank was more than happy to do so - they got the money back and made a nice little extra on top. As soon as the deal was done the man returned to the United States to live in the lap of luxury. The bank never reports the incident in the 1st place due to embarassment - would you deposit you money in a bank that had such lax security (the bank reasoned).
The point is that most major companies or corporations avoid this kind of bad press like medival Europeans avoided the Black Death. I can't see how any company would be anywhere near compliant with this statute. Like wise the law would be best used for whistle blowers. A security flaw is uncovered that the institution would like to keep a lid on. And, as is often the case, it puts it's investors and member/client's at some risk. So, the fineties of this statute are going to be of interest. Will it help to secure investors and consumers or just be a paper tiger?
Who said anything about the government being the one who sets the standard? There are many standards bodies that have little or nothing to do with governments, such as in engineering, electronics, etc... I was just pointing out that certain standards in the compurer industry are set by a certain corporation that has a near 95% market share in some sectors (like the desktop) and this standard is often held in propriety.
Our in otherwords, it's referred to a "Pax Microsoftia". Many advances have come along due to the reality of the Pax Microsftia but at what cost? Standards determined not by a governing body but by a corporate manifesto for dominance?
Common computing environments that also serve to quash competition and further advancements?
Just like the Pax Romania, many advances were/are gained but at what cost? And how will history record this when it's but a distant memory?
The industrial age is past and the dawn of the imformation age is at hand. And at the forefront of the this new day is Microsoft. How long will the Empire reign? The down fall of the Roman Empire was due to it's own complacency and arrogance, along with uncontrollable forces from outside the empire. IMHO, I predict a similar end to the Pax Microsoftia.
In reference to the Gift economy. His point about zero sum related to actually produce media is essentially correct. Let's quickly recap the old way of doing things, Ya know back when it was essentially vinyl disks called -- records. Now, remember that back then most of the "high" tech professional recording equipment was expensive and acually needed someone that understood how it worked and how to operate it. Hence the need for recording technicians. Recording and mastering a record became an art and this is most evident in the late 60's through the 70's. From Bob Dylan and the Beatles to Pink Floyd and Yes, etc...
If you were a musicain you generally accepted the notion that in order to have both a quality of product and any hope of national exposure that you (and your band) had to get "signed" by a major label. The major labels would "front" the band the money to do such things as buy descent equipment, pay for a modicum of living expenses, and most importantly -- pay to have the studio time, the technicians, and master work produced (and remember that most major labels had all of this and more in-house). If it was donned by the Reps that the product had at least some potential then it went to press and a more lucrative contract was drawn up (but not necessarily). Mind you that most common contracts gave the band (or single musicain) about 2 to 3 points (as in percentage) for every thing that made a profit. This was common for new bands (if you became popular you of course were in a position to barter the percentage, especially at renewal time). Well, say your album goes gold and you sell 100K+ albums, this is where you profits are made, and the tours are made to pay back the expense of the studio, etc.. (e.g. I remember RUSH during the G under P tour - Dallas/Fortworth put them over the top at the tour halfway point= lots of extra profit). So, in order to get anywhere you absolutely needed the "major labels" to really get the push (though many small labels were a starting point - the big guys made it happen). Therefore, It was the RIAA's way or the highway.
Fast foward to today. Technology such as can be bought at any descent music store and a descent computer with the right software and "who needs the major labels to produce a quality of product"? You've just save yourself a step and reduced you costs. But you still need marketing/advertising, distribution, and air time. Oops, back to the major label? Not anymore! Gee, this thing called the internet is great for people to get exposure. And hey I know a guy that builds "rad" websites! And the local recording studio will master and print/press CDs of about 1000 for X amount of money (which is considerably less then anything the Labels would offer you or lead you to believe even existed). So, now there's these web sites like MP3.com, and this.com and that.com that will let us post/upload some of your stuff. And, they include a link to our website which tell's them how to get a (professional quality) CD of your music. Ya, sum slug will buy the CD and then copy the tracks to his/her download directory and then we possibly loss potential revenue. But alot of people are buying the CD as well and were making money --- Without The Need For the RIAA Machine! Now take into account some of the ideas posted in this forum and perhaps you might, just might come to the conclusion that I see. The RIAA is most definately worried about piracy, but more over they're really worried about being cut out, circumvented, displaced, blah, blah...
So, how to cope with this? Make it impossible to play any media that doesn't have the right code/authorization embedding in it and then put this on the hardware side of all those devices that play any sort of media. Therefore any cdrom, DVD, etc... won't play if the authorization stuff isn't on the disk -- it's not authenticated and just spins down. Ya. this stuff prevents pirated ware but also forces the RIAA's "it's our way or the highway" paradigm on everyone. The musician, the consumer, the OEM's etc...
This is to me what DRM is all about. Not protecting my rights as a musician or a music listener. But forcing me to adhere to a source and product that some corporation or conglomurate has decided is the only one I'm allowed to use.
If my band sucks then the RIAA will decide, not the consumer, because the RIAA has everything figured out,... what I'll wear, what my personal bio will read like, how my hair looks, and the type of music I play. If I suck but have the right look the RIAA's machine will take care of that and I'm still a star. So much good music is obscured because the RIAA and it's label can't quite figure out which market category it fits into and I have had a few excellent musicains friends get signed and shelved (which is a way to get a band out of circulation - sign them and then do nothing - they die on the vine). I'm tired of the RIAA decide what I do and don't like, and the internet and all the present day technology makes it possible for the musician to connect directly with any potential audience -- which is exactly what the RIAA and the Major Labels don't want, otherwise they'll become obsolete and they know it!
The WIND SHIFTS...! Oh I can see it now, I'm going down my stairs, headed for work on a blustery day, and then a 40 mph wind takes a 45 to 90 degree shift. Gee, I'm gonna love trying to explain this one to my health insurance agent. "Ya see sir my house is designed to rotate in the wind, and well it was a very windy day...."(health insurance agent tries to keep from snickering out loud while reaching for the record but and waving the rest of the claims agents over). Not to mention that if the area where you live is particularly wind does that mean that essentially everything in the house has to be bolted down or secured in some way?
Oh ya, can survive a hurricane, but don't trying this in the tornado belt.... And you thought this plane would never fly?
I'd like to see the disclaimer on this guys contract.
And the scary thing is... Someone bought one and is actually living in it?!?!
O'k, guess it takes all kinds. In situations such as these - please refer to my sig.
"Volume licensing agreements pretty much spell out that they have the right to conduct an audit."
This only works if you actually have a "volume license" or any MS license. If I'm using OSS and the BSA shows up at my door (perhaps I had a license, it expired and I didn't renew it) I am under absolutely no obligation to speak to them, let alone allow them into my business/premises.
If they persist then I call the police and if they're there when the police show up make a citizens arrest (get a few employees to be witnesses). I guarantee they won't be back. Especially after you prove to the Judge when hearing at the harassment and public nussance hearing you arrested them for that you are not violating any "licensing" agreement because don't have a license and don't need one.
Remember, you can only get caught in the M$ snare if you agree to play their game -- buy M$ software and sign a license. Remember, by agreeing to any license agreement, providing it doesn't break criminal or constitutional law, you often agree to give up certain rights in order to enter into a contract. If you don't have any M$ software than it's a mute point. Oh, and as for OEM boxes with pre-installed windows -- ask to have them blank, no installed OS. If they refuse find someone that will.