Imagine that you were given the task of designing a machine to lay bricks. This probably would not be all that difficult, considering all of the things we already do with robots.
However, the problem becomes much more difficult if I add the stipulation that the machine be constructed entirely from bricks and mortar.
It gets harder:
Imagine that you were given the task of designing a machine to make meat. This probably would not be all that difficult, considering the consistency of most "meat" found in fast food restaurants.
However, the problem becomes much more difficult if I add the stipulation that the machine be constructed entirely from meat.
Most people don't know how to operate a sextant. GPS interfaced with a map program makes location find very easy.
Indeed, this was highlighted in a recent government study involving 200 SUV-driving regional account managers. Those account managers who tried to simultaneously drive their SUV, talk on a cellphone, drink a latte, and navigate with a sextant were found to be more than 27 times more likely to inflict multiple fatalities on other motorists than those account managers who instead tried to drive, talk on a cellphone, drink a latte and use the in-dash GPS unit.
While the Segway tops out a 6 mph, the Embrio 'hits 35 mph in the learning mode alone.
But this statement fails to mention the main objective of the Embrio's "learning mode": To instill in the trainee using adverse experience why it's a bad idea to exceed the maximum recommended operational speed of 6 mph.
Modules do not have to be GPL'd. Nvidia provides kernel modules that are proprietary, as do many others.
Nvidia only gets away with this because they don't ship the Linux kernel. The end user combines nvidia's drivers with the kernel, creating an "incompatible" combination that can be used by the end user but may not be further redistributed.
Most embedded device manufacturers are going to be distributing the kernel with their modules. Since the modules link to the kernel as shipped, the modules must be GPL'd.
The big difference is that the people who are violating the GPL are distributing the GPL code in a product. When you redistribute or sell the code, you have a different set of obligations than a user. The GPL allows the end-user to do almost anything.
And yet people constantly claim that the GPL is not anti-business.
If I create copies of a GPL'd program and sell them, I have an obligation to make the source available. That's anti-business.
If I create copies of Microsoft Windows and sell them, I get sent to a federal penitentiary. That's pro-business. (At least pro-prison industry business, anyway.)
Console games which are diffucult to copy have always been more expensive then normal pc games. It's been that way as far as I can remember and the only explanation I have found is that they lower prices to combat piracy.
Probably the biggest factor is that the console game makers usually initially sell their game boxes at a loss or and try to make it up later on game sales.
PC users have already bought the game hardware (their PC) independently. There is no need to add extra profit margin to PC game sales to compensate for subsidized hardware box sales.
I've surveyed the web for actual content using similar criteria, giving proportional weight the Fortune 1000. I've been able to conclude that:
Most websites on the Internet have an annoying Flash intro.
Most websites on the Internet make you select your country of origin before letting you see the main page.
Most of the images on the World Wide Web are of small groups of people in business attire with earnest expressions focusing attention on some common problem.
All websites have an Investor Relations page.
A significant number of websites will use the Javascript features of your browser to lock you out of their site on the premise that your browser does not support Javascript.
If you have a website and you're not doing these things, then you're not using current best practices. I suggest that everybody upgrade to these universal web standards as soon as they can.
However, there's the problem of the "network effect" principle, which states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the nodes. This principle works in reverse, too. If just the ISPs representing 80% of the home users do this, then the value of the remaining high-speed P2P networks drops by a huge margin; it would likely fizzle out altogether.
With the vast majority of broadband providers consolidated into just a handful of cable and telephone companies, it's not hard to see them making this move together, especially since cable companies are already aligned with content producers, and the government would be goading them on.
Broadband users generally only have one or two options for ISPs. It would be almost impossible for a renegade ISP to establish a market position based on high-speed uploads while fighting both local connection monopolies and the reverse network effect.
As for people not buying products that they're not satisfied with, they often do buy when they have no alternative. How else can you explain so many movie tapes sold with Macrovision copy protection? They want the movie, so they buy it. People will still buy broadband just to get snappy webpages, corporate controlled downloads and no dial-up modem hassles.
How would ISPs monitor when users are sharing files and put a stop to it?
IMO, what they're going to end up doing is throttling upload bandwidth on broadband connections to a tiny trickle; just enough to type in URLs or transmit your mouse coordinates in an online game. That would basically be the end of P2P networks: without any fast uplinks, P2P traffic would be starved down to dial-up speeds.
The ISPs would like to do this anyway because they really want you to pay extra for a commercial account to run any kind of server. The small number of high-cost commercial accounts will be easy to police for piracy.
The Internet will devolve back into a model like broadcast radio and television, with a few large publishers broadcasting unidirectionally to the masses. The general public's contribution to the Internet will largely be limited to text posts on blogs complaining about the situation.
Only minor detail....creating an elevator cable that can handle the high temperatures.
Major detail... Venus's day is 225 earth days long. It is spinning far too slowly to support a space elevator that relies on a geosynchronous orbit at the top.
All that talk on making unbreakable DRM, and not one nod towards the fact that its a free-for-all at the headphone jack.:-)
But haven't there been proposals to include watermarks that remain encoded even in analog copies? One day, the law might require all audio hardware to refuse to record or digitize such signals. (Of course, watermark removal filters will always be available to those who are willing to risk a felony conviction.)
However, most of that value is for the physical record itself, since it's (I assume) a collector's item. There are a fixed number of authentic 1994 records, and a fan is willing to pay a premium to buy it, even though they could probably download the content it contains for free from some P2P network. A new production run of this record would not command $50 per copy.
Now just think of how far engineering would have advanced if had taken the same path? Don't build using standard girders, and fastners. Re-invent your own kind of girders and fastners.
A standard fastener like a bolt has probably less than a dozen parameters to worry about. Things like length, thread pitch, diameter, head shape, alloy strength, etc.
If instead, each standard bolt was like a software component and had an API with thousands of parameters to worry about, you can bet that the architects would consider having simpler custom designed bolts machined for each project that match the unique requirements of that job.
I've gravitated to what's IMHO on one of the cheapest, best ways to organize massive quantities of random junk. The system is comprised of cardboard boxes, food storage bags (cheap ones with twist-ties, not ziplock; they're easier to close), a label maker and a notebook.
To me, the box type is important. They should be somewhat shallow so you can find stuff without having to dig too deep. Since I moved recently, I had dozens of those standard 1.5 cubic foot book boxes. I cut a bunch of them down from 12 inches to about 7 inches in height (cut the flaps off and turn the extra height into new flaps).
Now, organize all of your stuff into categories. If you're a real packrat, you'll have categories like 9-pin serial cables, LP record cleaning accessories, channel 3/4 video modulators, wall-warts, etc. (You might even have some actually useful categories, too.) Each category should be small enough to comfortably fit in a 1-gallon food storage bag. Fill each bag, tie it up, and put a label on it. Dutifully write down the bag's contents in your notebook.
If you have lots of circuit boards, you probably already have anti-static bags for them. Be sure to keep each circuit board in an antistatic bag, especially if putting them in any kind of normal plastic bag or container.
Organize the bags into larger categories and fill the boxes with bags. Label the boxes and update the notebook with the box contents.
Now you can stack the boxes on the floor or on shelves. I managed to cram an unbelievable amount of junk into about 20 boxes, which all fit neatly in the corner of the basement. And the best part is the whole system only cost me about $20 (mostly food bags and pricey label tape). Fancy bins from a container store have taken up more space and would have cost well over $100.
Life is so much better now that I've invested the time to organize all my stuff. In the past I'd waste countless hours trying to find some adapter or cable in random piles of semi-organized junk. Now I just reference my notebook and grab it in a few seconds.
But it seems that these current systems must use "registration agencies" to act as the gatekeeper of the unique ID.
Why not just embed an off-the-shelf GUID in the header of the document? That doesn't require any central authority.
The <A> tag could be enhanced with a "guid" attribute. If a browser gets a "page not found" error on a link, it could automatically submit the GUID in the link to Google or some other search service to look for the current location.
It's hypocricy that obsolescence should apply to everyone except yourself.
Well, the government has jumped in to help save the content industry's business model. They've just mandated copy controls on digital TV, they've made cracking copy protections into a felony with draconian punishments, and they're likely to require DRM on all computing equipment before long.
I say what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Bring on the software tariffs.
Most, but not quite all. The original post argued that committees "ALWAYS" outperform individuals.
I would also point out that the small amount of development that does involve invention has an economic impact that is far greater than just what the headcount would seem to indicate. Firing the people who excel in this area just because their existence bugs some people with different personality types would be very shortsighted.
Well, since 99% of patents end up being signed over to corporations run by herds of extroverted suits, and they are squabbled over by packs of yammering lawyers, I'd say that patents are pretty social items.
A team of 5 interesting, friendly people will ALWAYS outperform a lone social outcast barricaded in his single office.
Then how do you explain that the vast majority of patents on file list fewer than 5 inventors? It doesn't make sense. Surely teams of 5 friendly people should come up with more patentable inventions if they ALWAYS outperform the grumpy loners. I'm sure we'd all be much better off if everything was designed by committee.
uhm, is there such a key? Considering I have to agree to get the windows update v4 control on my system.
... And what do 99% of the users base their decision on when they click "yes" to do the update? It's the fact that the dialog box says it verified that the control has been signed with Microsoft's secret key.
However, I'd be surprised if they would be dumb enough to keep such a key on any system that is physically attached to any network.
The government has already stepped in by instituting and enforcing transferable monopolies on the duplication and distribution of the contents of the archive.
If it weren't for this government activism, this whole story would be a non-issue. Maybe the question should be: "Shouldn't the government be able to step out?"
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However, the problem becomes much more difficult if I add the stipulation that the machine be constructed entirely from bricks and mortar.
It gets harder:
Imagine that you were given the task of designing a machine to make meat. This probably would not be all that difficult, considering the consistency of most "meat" found in fast food restaurants.
However, the problem becomes much more difficult if I add the stipulation that the machine be constructed entirely from meat.
Of course, since Microsoft has 30X the installed base of Linux, wouldn't each Microsoft hole deserve 30X as much stink?
Indeed, this was highlighted in a recent government study involving 200 SUV-driving regional account managers. Those account managers who tried to simultaneously drive their SUV, talk on a cellphone, drink a latte, and navigate with a sextant were found to be more than 27 times more likely to inflict multiple fatalities on other motorists than those account managers who instead tried to drive, talk on a cellphone, drink a latte and use the in-dash GPS unit.
But this statement fails to mention the main objective of the Embrio's "learning mode": To instill in the trainee using adverse experience why it's a bad idea to exceed the maximum recommended operational speed of 6 mph.
Nvidia only gets away with this because they don't ship the Linux kernel. The end user combines nvidia's drivers with the kernel, creating an "incompatible" combination that can be used by the end user but may not be further redistributed.
Most embedded device manufacturers are going to be distributing the kernel with their modules. Since the modules link to the kernel as shipped, the modules must be GPL'd.
And yet people constantly claim that the GPL is not anti-business.
If I create copies of a GPL'd program and sell them, I have an obligation to make the source available. That's anti-business.
If I create copies of Microsoft Windows and sell them, I get sent to a federal penitentiary. That's pro-business. (At least pro-prison industry business, anyway.)
Probably the biggest factor is that the console game makers usually initially sell their game boxes at a loss or and try to make it up later on game sales.
PC users have already bought the game hardware (their PC) independently. There is no need to add extra profit margin to PC game sales to compensate for subsidized hardware box sales.
This one might be:
If you have a website and you're not doing these things, then you're not using current best practices. I suggest that everybody upgrade to these universal web standards as soon as they can.
With the vast majority of broadband providers consolidated into just a handful of cable and telephone companies, it's not hard to see them making this move together, especially since cable companies are already aligned with content producers, and the government would be goading them on.
Broadband users generally only have one or two options for ISPs. It would be almost impossible for a renegade ISP to establish a market position based on high-speed uploads while fighting both local connection monopolies and the reverse network effect.
As for people not buying products that they're not satisfied with, they often do buy when they have no alternative. How else can you explain so many movie tapes sold with Macrovision copy protection? They want the movie, so they buy it. People will still buy broadband just to get snappy webpages, corporate controlled downloads and no dial-up modem hassles.
IMO, what they're going to end up doing is throttling upload bandwidth on broadband connections to a tiny trickle; just enough to type in URLs or transmit your mouse coordinates in an online game. That would basically be the end of P2P networks: without any fast uplinks, P2P traffic would be starved down to dial-up speeds.
The ISPs would like to do this anyway because they really want you to pay extra for a commercial account to run any kind of server. The small number of high-cost commercial accounts will be easy to police for piracy.
The Internet will devolve back into a model like broadcast radio and television, with a few large publishers broadcasting unidirectionally to the masses. The general public's contribution to the Internet will largely be limited to text posts on blogs complaining about the situation.
Major detail... Venus's day is 225 earth days long. It is spinning far too slowly to support a space elevator that relies on a geosynchronous orbit at the top.
But haven't there been proposals to include watermarks that remain encoded even in analog copies? One day, the law might require all audio hardware to refuse to record or digitize such signals. (Of course, watermark removal filters will always be available to those who are willing to risk a felony conviction.)
However, most of that value is for the physical record itself, since it's (I assume) a collector's item. There are a fixed number of authentic 1994 records, and a fan is willing to pay a premium to buy it, even though they could probably download the content it contains for free from some P2P network. A new production run of this record would not command $50 per copy.
A standard fastener like a bolt has probably less than a dozen parameters to worry about. Things like length, thread pitch, diameter, head shape, alloy strength, etc.
If instead, each standard bolt was like a software component and had an API with thousands of parameters to worry about, you can bet that the architects would consider having simpler custom designed bolts machined for each project that match the unique requirements of that job.
Master/Slave should be phased out. Edge-triggered logic is more modern and robust.
To me, the box type is important. They should be somewhat shallow so you can find stuff without having to dig too deep. Since I moved recently, I had dozens of those standard 1.5 cubic foot book boxes. I cut a bunch of them down from 12 inches to about 7 inches in height (cut the flaps off and turn the extra height into new flaps).
Now, organize all of your stuff into categories. If you're a real packrat, you'll have categories like 9-pin serial cables, LP record cleaning accessories, channel 3/4 video modulators, wall-warts, etc. (You might even have some actually useful categories, too.) Each category should be small enough to comfortably fit in a 1-gallon food storage bag. Fill each bag, tie it up, and put a label on it. Dutifully write down the bag's contents in your notebook.
If you have lots of circuit boards, you probably already have anti-static bags for them. Be sure to keep each circuit board in an antistatic bag, especially if putting them in any kind of normal plastic bag or container.
Organize the bags into larger categories and fill the boxes with bags. Label the boxes and update the notebook with the box contents.
Now you can stack the boxes on the floor or on shelves. I managed to cram an unbelievable amount of junk into about 20 boxes, which all fit neatly in the corner of the basement. And the best part is the whole system only cost me about $20 (mostly food bags and pricey label tape). Fancy bins from a container store have taken up more space and would have cost well over $100.
Life is so much better now that I've invested the time to organize all my stuff. In the past I'd waste countless hours trying to find some adapter or cable in random piles of semi-organized junk. Now I just reference my notebook and grab it in a few seconds.
Don't worry about high taxes, just figure out how to become a member of group "D". That's how Ross Perot built his fortune.
Why not just embed an off-the-shelf GUID in the header of the document? That doesn't require any central authority.
The <A> tag could be enhanced with a "guid" attribute. If a browser gets a "page not found" error on a link, it could automatically submit the GUID in the link to Google or some other search service to look for the current location.
Well, the government has jumped in to help save the content industry's business model. They've just mandated copy controls on digital TV, they've made cracking copy protections into a felony with draconian punishments, and they're likely to require DRM on all computing equipment before long.
I say what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Bring on the software tariffs.
Most, but not quite all. The original post argued that committees "ALWAYS" outperform individuals.
I would also point out that the small amount of development that does involve invention has an economic impact that is far greater than just what the headcount would seem to indicate. Firing the people who excel in this area just because their existence bugs some people with different personality types would be very shortsighted.
Well, since 99% of patents end up being signed over to corporations run by herds of extroverted suits, and they are squabbled over by packs of yammering lawyers, I'd say that patents are pretty social items.
Then how do you explain that the vast majority of patents on file list fewer than 5 inventors? It doesn't make sense. Surely teams of 5 friendly people should come up with more patentable inventions if they ALWAYS outperform the grumpy loners. I'm sure we'd all be much better off if everything was designed by committee.
However, I'd be surprised if they would be dumb enough to keep such a key on any system that is physically attached to any network.
The government has already stepped in by instituting and enforcing transferable monopolies on the duplication and distribution of the contents of the archive.
If it weren't for this government activism, this whole story would be a non-issue. Maybe the question should be: "Shouldn't the government be able to step out?"