Purely to play devil's advocate, because I agree that it sounds like a stupid patent...
If you get access to a different set of apps based on which passcode you enter, it's more like a context aware ACL -- when you're fully logged in you get everything, when you're 'partly' logged in you only get a subset.
Of course, I'm pretty sure the last release of Android lets you have profiles in which your kids can only access some of the apps, and you can access all of them. So I'm not entirely certain this is any different than that.
But it can definitely be likened to something like sudo, which we've had for years. This doesn't sound like it's much more than things we already have, but with a tablet. Which pretty much sums up my opinion of software patents -- a system and methodology for doing something exactly like a well-known real world analog, but with a computer.
Yup. Which is why my current XBox got disconnected from the network the day after they pushed the update which added ads to the home screen and the games.
If Microsoft thinks they're getting free reign of an internet connection on a video game ever again from me, they're quite mistaken.
That they acted like such arrogant, dismissive assholes when they announced this initially says they don't actually give a crap about customers. So, conversely, I don't much give a crap about them.
An internet connection in a video game is mostly a vehicle for ads, and for the game publisher to try to convince me to spend real money to 'enhance' my gaming experience -- neither of which interest me.
Say I've bought their CD, but I also use Spotify. If I make a playlist of songs based on an album I own, WTF does this have to do with Spotify and MoS?
If Spotify themselves is making a playlist based on a compilation, well, then maybe I can see it because I think the specific compilation of tracks is copyright-able.
Granted, I'm still old school and actually still buy a lot of CDs, which I then rip and play on whatever device I choose; so I'm not exactly using Spotify or anything similar, so I don't know much about the mechanics of it.
Assuming there was an iota of human creativity involved, Americans who bother to put their grocery lists into a tangible form have been given copyrights on them since the late 1980s, if not longer.
Really? I'll believe you, but I've never heard of this.
Unless you do your grocery list like a poem or something, what about a grocery list is subject to copyright? It's a list of nouns, and possibly quantities -- there's not a whole lot of 'human creativity' involved in any grocery list I've ever seen.
eggs milk and butter off to the store will i go beets out of season
I don't care if they have DRM... as long as it doesn't require an internet connection to do it.
I have no interest in having my video game console serve me ads and the like, so a required internet connection for me is a deal breaker. Even that one time register is too much -- it's none of Microsoft's business who I am or that I have a video game.
I don't expect DRM to just go away, but when Microsoft started putting ads in the home screen of my XBox 360 -- well, sorry, but no.
I bought the console, I bought the game; if you think you should be entitled to my usage data and the ability to advertise to me, too damned bad. I don't play games online, so that internet connection doesn't do anything to improve my experience with it. It's purely a mechanism for Microsoft and the game publishers to annoy me.
my blu rays play just fine on my TV. what exactly am i missing?
The opportunity to buy a whole new TV which runs at a higher resolution.
Think of it as the companies who make a/v equipment trying to make sure you replace all of your stuff every 2 years to keep up with the latest market trends.
But, I'm with you, I don't see myself needing to get even higher resolution any time soon.
Given that HDMI is all about DRM, how many new ways have they come up to limit what we're 'allowed' to do?
And as far as yet another HD 'standard', I can't say I'm in a big rush to get this. The media companies seem to think we'll replace all of our equipment every 2 years or so when they come out with the new hotness.
But replacing my TV, my Amp, my DVD player... well, I'll get around to it eventually. Since my current stuff is only about 2 years old, I don't see caring about this new spec for some time.
Though, for a computer monitor, those resolutions sound pretty awesome.
That doesn't mean that some companies aren't so egregiously bad at customer service that you wouldn't walk away from doing business with them.
In my experience, United Airlines is shit, don't care if they're shit, will tell you point blank you shouldn't expect anything but shit, and would you like some more shit?
When a company ignores you, blows you off, or does absolutely nothing about your complaints, I think something like this is brilliant.
Sending a very public "fuck you" is sometimes the only recourse you have for companies who have lousy service. If they're going to act like "too bad, we don't care" -- pointing that out for all to see isn't such a bad idea.
I've never dealt with BA, but I've certainly encountered companies whose customer service is so terrible as to make you think they're doing it on purpose. And those companies deserve a little public shaming sometimes.
We always made damned sure our development code names weren't ever something the sales and marketing weasels would latch onto, and that weretotally unrelated to what we were doing. In fact, that was the entire point of them.
If it sounded cool or interesting, they'd start selling it before it existed. To me the code name is to allow you to talk about it without people knowing what you're talking about or co-opting it for marketing material.
It's not supposed to be cute or catchy. It's to keep the sales guys at bay. They won't get excited about 'project garden slug', because they're not meant to.
Ask any iPhone 3G user that upgraded to iOS 5 whether they think this is a good or bad thing.
Or anybody with an original iPad... iOS 5.5 is a crashy pile of junk, and I wish I could roll back to an older version, but sadly 'wiping' the device just deletes everything but doesn't affect the version of the OS.
To me, two years was far too short of a time to support the device given what I paid for it -- so my iPad has largely been relegated to a corner and my Nexus 7 gets used in its place.
The only thing I miss is support for Digital Copies I got with DVDs/Blu Rays that I bought, because I have quite a few of them. If Apple would just put iTunes out for Android, I'd be set, but somehow I doubt they'll do that.
Uhh.. apart from all data sent and received over WiFi.
Do you actually know what airplane mode does?
It disables all communications, cellular and wireless -- when it's in airplane mode, there should be zero emissions from it.
Any device which didn't do that would be in violation of FCC rules.
I play most games in airplane mode to block their ads and crap. In fact, when I first download something, I put the device into airplane mode and confirm it doesn't require a network connection. Any game which can't be played offline, I uninstall right away.
I don't think the GP is saying it's a bad idea, he's saying he'd pay for that as a feature.
"Hi Mom, everything is OK, yes, that's a fascinating story about Aunt Myrtle... Oh, gee, look at the time... gottago, kthanksbye".
Slightly more on topic, I should think some phone service would be far better than no phone service. Many of us take this kind of stuff for granted, but that's far from true for much of the world.
While I have no doubt that TFA describes a fine public service built by those of the highest integrity, I must confess that my first thought was quite the opposite, given recent history.
It is just as unfair to assume everyone in Mexico is involved in the drug cartels as it is to assume everyone in America is a spy for the NSA and supports what they do.
Never worked in the game industry, but, like any public company, it's all driven by the almighty quarterly numbers.
So I would expect it's more along the lines of "ok, we just delivered, but the stock market will lower our value if we don't release something by this date, and then the executive bonuses will be reduced".
Other than angry customers and the stock price, I don't think there's an external force saying they need to do it.
Of course, if you deliver crap you end up with angry customers anyway... which leaves "making the quarter" and related stuff as the driving force.
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And that seems to be the problem with copyright in the US.
If I write down an alphabetic list of the elements, that's something I can copyright? Awesome, pay me bitches.
I was under the impression you couldn't copyright facts:
Which to me also applies to grocery lists.
Purely to play devil's advocate, because I agree that it sounds like a stupid patent ...
If you get access to a different set of apps based on which passcode you enter, it's more like a context aware ACL -- when you're fully logged in you get everything, when you're 'partly' logged in you only get a subset.
Of course, I'm pretty sure the last release of Android lets you have profiles in which your kids can only access some of the apps, and you can access all of them. So I'm not entirely certain this is any different than that.
But it can definitely be likened to something like sudo, which we've had for years. This doesn't sound like it's much more than things we already have, but with a tablet. Which pretty much sums up my opinion of software patents -- a system and methodology for doing something exactly like a well-known real world analog, but with a computer.
Yup. Which is why my current XBox got disconnected from the network the day after they pushed the update which added ads to the home screen and the games.
If Microsoft thinks they're getting free reign of an internet connection on a video game ever again from me, they're quite mistaken.
That they acted like such arrogant, dismissive assholes when they announced this initially says they don't actually give a crap about customers. So, conversely, I don't much give a crap about them.
An internet connection in a video game is mostly a vehicle for ads, and for the game publisher to try to convince me to spend real money to 'enhance' my gaming experience -- neither of which interest me.
Sadly, I'm forced to wonder how long before it will be illegal to do anything which would prevent the NSA from spying on you.
Because, after all, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
Who, exactly, is it who made the playlist?
Say I've bought their CD, but I also use Spotify. If I make a playlist of songs based on an album I own, WTF does this have to do with Spotify and MoS?
If Spotify themselves is making a playlist based on a compilation, well, then maybe I can see it because I think the specific compilation of tracks is copyright-able.
Granted, I'm still old school and actually still buy a lot of CDs, which I then rip and play on whatever device I choose; so I'm not exactly using Spotify or anything similar, so I don't know much about the mechanics of it.
Really? I'll believe you, but I've never heard of this.
Unless you do your grocery list like a poem or something, what about a grocery list is subject to copyright? It's a list of nouns, and possibly quantities -- there's not a whole lot of 'human creativity' involved in any grocery list I've ever seen.
eggs milk and butter
off to the store will i go
beets out of season
I don't care if they have DRM ... as long as it doesn't require an internet connection to do it.
I have no interest in having my video game console serve me ads and the like, so a required internet connection for me is a deal breaker. Even that one time register is too much -- it's none of Microsoft's business who I am or that I have a video game.
I don't expect DRM to just go away, but when Microsoft started putting ads in the home screen of my XBox 360 -- well, sorry, but no.
I bought the console, I bought the game; if you think you should be entitled to my usage data and the ability to advertise to me, too damned bad. I don't play games online, so that internet connection doesn't do anything to improve my experience with it. It's purely a mechanism for Microsoft and the game publishers to annoy me.
Yup, they've tipped their hand as to where they're going, and eventually it will be the always on crap and everything else that pissed people off.
I think I'm more likely to buy a spare current-gen XBox than even consider the next one.
I just don't trust that Microsoft won't hold off a bit and then push out an update which does everything they've backed off from.
The opportunity to buy a whole new TV which runs at a higher resolution.
Think of it as the companies who make a/v equipment trying to make sure you replace all of your stuff every 2 years to keep up with the latest market trends.
But, I'm with you, I don't see myself needing to get even higher resolution any time soon.
But isn't HDCP a mandatory part of HDMI?
In which case there's not a lot of difference between the one and the other as far as DRM is concerned.
Given that HDMI is all about DRM, how many new ways have they come up to limit what we're 'allowed' to do?
And as far as yet another HD 'standard', I can't say I'm in a big rush to get this. The media companies seem to think we'll replace all of our equipment every 2 years or so when they come out with the new hotness.
But replacing my TV, my Amp, my DVD player ... well, I'll get around to it eventually. Since my current stuff is only about 2 years old, I don't see caring about this new spec for some time.
Though, for a computer monitor, those resolutions sound pretty awesome.
So just like their benchmarks then? ;-)
I keed, I keed.
That doesn't mean that some companies aren't so egregiously bad at customer service that you wouldn't walk away from doing business with them.
In my experience, United Airlines is shit, don't care if they're shit, will tell you point blank you shouldn't expect anything but shit, and would you like some more shit?
When a company ignores you, blows you off, or does absolutely nothing about your complaints, I think something like this is brilliant.
Sending a very public "fuck you" is sometimes the only recourse you have for companies who have lousy service. If they're going to act like "too bad, we don't care" -- pointing that out for all to see isn't such a bad idea.
I've never dealt with BA, but I've certainly encountered companies whose customer service is so terrible as to make you think they're doing it on purpose. And those companies deserve a little public shaming sometimes.
True, same as getting a salad at McDonald's -- it's got more fat and sugar than the Big Mac.
We always made damned sure our development code names weren't ever something the sales and marketing weasels would latch onto, and that weretotally unrelated to what we were doing. In fact, that was the entire point of them.
If it sounded cool or interesting, they'd start selling it before it existed. To me the code name is to allow you to talk about it without people knowing what you're talking about or co-opting it for marketing material.
It's not supposed to be cute or catchy. It's to keep the sales guys at bay. They won't get excited about 'project garden slug', because they're not meant to.
Frozen Yogurt. Not a new term as far as I know.
Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, Kit Kat ... are you sure they're not?
Android 4.5, brought to you by Pepsi can't be far from here.
Screw you and your cross marketing opportunities.
It's funny, but could you get yourself into legal trouble with this?
I'm sure they could come up with some trumped up charges under the Patriot Act or something.
Or anybody with an original iPad ... iOS 5.5 is a crashy pile of junk, and I wish I could roll back to an older version, but sadly 'wiping' the device just deletes everything but doesn't affect the version of the OS.
To me, two years was far too short of a time to support the device given what I paid for it -- so my iPad has largely been relegated to a corner and my Nexus 7 gets used in its place.
The only thing I miss is support for Digital Copies I got with DVDs/Blu Rays that I bought, because I have quite a few of them. If Apple would just put iTunes out for Android, I'd be set, but somehow I doubt they'll do that.
Do you actually know what airplane mode does?
It disables all communications, cellular and wireless -- when it's in airplane mode, there should be zero emissions from it.
Any device which didn't do that would be in violation of FCC rules.
I play most games in airplane mode to block their ads and crap. In fact, when I first download something, I put the device into airplane mode and confirm it doesn't require a network connection. Any game which can't be played offline, I uninstall right away.
I don't think the GP is saying it's a bad idea, he's saying he'd pay for that as a feature.
"Hi Mom, everything is OK, yes, that's a fascinating story about Aunt Myrtle ... Oh, gee, look at the time ... gottago, kthanksbye".
Slightly more on topic, I should think some phone service would be far better than no phone service. Many of us take this kind of stuff for granted, but that's far from true for much of the world.
It is just as unfair to assume everyone in Mexico is involved in the drug cartels as it is to assume everyone in America is a spy for the NSA and supports what they do.
Why, so you can discuss the TPS reports, of course.
Other than that, I have no idea since there's already collaboration tools which do all of this and it doesn't need to be in Excel.
Sounds like bloat to me.
Never worked in the game industry, but, like any public company, it's all driven by the almighty quarterly numbers.
So I would expect it's more along the lines of "ok, we just delivered, but the stock market will lower our value if we don't release something by this date, and then the executive bonuses will be reduced".
Other than angry customers and the stock price, I don't think there's an external force saying they need to do it.
Of course, if you deliver crap you end up with angry customers anyway ... which leaves "making the quarter" and related stuff as the driving force.