Re:Sorry. No way.
on
TMBG on DRM
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Distributing some of my software with DRM enabled allows me to *afford* my other contributions to the community. It pays my bills, provides food for myself and my 5 children, and lets me live comfortably.
Would you *really* want to take that away? Would you *really* want to take away my ability to help the hundreds of teachers in California that my software assists?
Selling drugs to children and running guns for terrorists *affords* my other contributions to the community. It pays my bills, provides food for myself and my 5 children, and lets me live comfortably.
Would you *really* want to take that away? Would you *really* want to take away my ability to help the hundreds of teachers in California that my software assists?
Yeah, and they DESERVE thier every other night work schedule so much more than a minimum wage lacky working at blockbuster. They are better people than the rest of us. They don't need to work or try hard.
If idiots stopped responding to it, then it will be unprofitable
Not for the people selling people the idea that idiots will repsond to it, i.e. selling the lists of email addresses. It's just like gambling. If you have 650 million people online, and only one of them has to say "yes" for you to make money, it sounds like a great idea to lots of people.
What I note is missing is how to deal with the spammers attacking the network using it's own techniques against itself. For example, flipping the ham/spam caches so that "good" mail is classified as spam and spam email is classified as good mail.
Without know EXACTLY who is participating in your network, there is no way to guard against this... and once you solve the problem of knowing exactly who is participating, then why not just use that as your uber whitelist?
Now our new CIO has elected to stop that benefit using the argument that we should be dedicated staff who desire to be responsive and should do what it takes to make that happen.
As well they are, of course, dedicated employers who are willing to give salary bonuses every time you respond quickly to problems and showing your loyalty and dedication, right?
You company wouldn't give away it's product for free, and neither should you!
Something like the election for a college student body president
Interestingly enough I wrote the online election software for Southern Methodist University (assuming they still use the same thing). There was a program called Skew (for testing purposes only, of course) that could subtly adjust the ballots so that the winner could be anyone you want. Unfortunately, I was never approached with any large cash sums (but don't let you think I didn't make it well known that such a program existed, just in case), so it was never used in real life. For all I know it's still siting there, ready to go.
The paper/pencil tool isn't too complex for the USA, it's *too simple*.
Canada has 1/10th the number of people as the USA.
Get this... Japan has 1/2 the number of people as the US, and thier ballots require you to actually WRITE THE NAME of the guy you are voting for. No punch cards, no little boxes to check. You just go in and write down his/her name.
All will go smoothly. There will be a landslide, 100% in fact, for a little known write in by the name of clambake (your's truly).
His simple, grassroots platform of emptying the US trasury into the pockets of the employees, investors and all the families related in any way to the E-Voting companies will resonate so strongly with the voters and on such a grand scale that he will become the first prsident elected who isn't even old enough to be eligible!
As did your country. The 7k$ he could have made from you would have been off-set by the 17k$ that he would have lost from your next door neighbor. It makes a LOT of sense not to do business with you.
Is this North Korean go>v't-run paper aware that UbiSoft is not an arm of the American gov't?
If you ever have the chance to actually watch the NK news or read it's papers, EVERYTHING is further proof of the US's warmongering. If it rains next Tuesday, it's proof of the US's warmongering. If a French guy eats a taco while on vacation in Mexico, it's proof of the US's warmongering. If something sitting on some guy's desk is a particular shade of red... well, you get the idea.
b) All EMI CDs are treated this way, theirs isn't receiving special treatment; c) They would have preferred not to have the copy protection, but weren't allowed to differ from EMI policy.
Because poor little no-name bands like the frigging Beastie Boys have no say what-so-ever with thier record labels. If EMI policy was to remix everything with back-beats by John Tesh they would have let that slide too, huh?
Sure, we would have preferred that our songs weren't remixed as elevator music, but that's EMI policy, so we'll just live with it. -- MikeD
Ironically, many of the companies that are willing to exploit the free market to suit thier own purposes and hurt the American economy would scream to high heaven if a rich country were to try and use the free market buy thier goods in the U.S. to save money (Instead of buying thier own local versions of the same thing for twice the price.... region encoding, et al.)
American companies are around for one reason, and one reason only: to make money.
Think harder, if that were true then the Ideal American Company would be duty bound to create a super-flu to kill off the rest of humanity so it can get thier money for no cost. That would net the the MAXIMUM amount of money possible.
If a company doesn't lower prices, they'll lose sales to the companies which have lowered their prices.
Aye, thars the rub... IF other companies lower thier prices, then sure, we win... But the areas where you see the most Indian outsourcing are coincidentally the same places where we don't see a great deal of true competition. (How much was your cell phone? Mine was free, it has a web browser, camera, can run Java applets, can play mp3s, unlimited usage, no roaming charges, and all for about $40 a month with anytime cancellation free, and the service is so fantastic that I had a representative from the company track me down, come to my very door, after weeks of searching as I had not changed my address, when I moved from Osaka to Tokyo because they were concerned when my Osaka land-line phone went off-line.)
The cell company I'm with doesn't hire overseas. They pay a premium for home-grown Japanese workes and still pass on the saving to me.
Does your cell phone provider pass on it's overseas worker savings to you? Are the economic benifits you espose actually a reality for you?
You make it sound like programmers from India are automatically less qualified than American programmers. Xenophobic much?
Honestly it's just experience. I used to assume that Indian programmers were good. I mean we always hear about how truly excellent thier engineering schools are, right? But, In the past three years I've seen three mid-sized companies decide to move thier programming force overseas and watched the quality decline, deadlines stretch further and further away, and massive, MASSIVE failures.
Finally the company finds out that it's sales have shrunk so much due to the loss of clients when things are delivered unfinished, buggy, or, in some cases, built completely on bizarro world where the spec changed magically to a completely different spec in a completely different industry of software that it can't possibly get itself back on track. And I have heard a couple similar stories from co-workers as well.
I have yet to hear or see a case where an Indian programming group isn't vastly underqualified or simply inept, and unable to deliver what it promises to. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I have yet to see it.
What I HAVE seen are flat-out lies ("We finished that part of the code last week."... "Ok, let's see how it looks."... "Oh, er, um, honestly, we never actually started on it, it was quite complex and, and and, don't worry, we'll get it done next week, we promise."), completely misunderstood specifications ("Why, exactly, did you think a web browser needed to be put into the voice-print engine, but hooks to the actual voice-recognition technology were left out?"... "We couldn't understand the spec so we thought this would be ok."), or wrote the code for a completely innapropriate platform, despite assurances from thier own managers that they are following our clearly stated platform goals (again, flat out lies).
It clearly isn't Indian people, all of the Indians who were born here or are on H1-B visas that I have met are on the ball and very good programmers. But there is something about the big code-monkey shops that inherently produces inexcusably poor work.
Lastly, it sounds as though you chose poorly in which skills you decided to upgrade, or you are targetting the wrong companies after upgrading your skills.
I think you have a different definition of upgrade. In the above example, I became the single best programmer in the world, but that didn't matter becuase best at programming wasn't the skill set I needed. Instead I needed to upgrade my skill set in spending frugally (cup ramen and bags of rice) and also in congressional lobbying (to lower the minimum wage) so that I could lower my salary to $5,000 a year.
Everyone benefits when companies become more productive because their products are made cheaper.
You DO understand that your economic utopia is just a pipe dream, don't you? You think outsourcing makes thing cheaper? Maybe in quality, but why the hell should a company lower the prices when it can keep the prices the same and rake in the profit? How does this help again?
"And we'd like to welcome the technology workers of America to the global economy. Please, have a seat and make yourself comfortable. If you fight it you'll only waste time you should be spending upgrading your skills."
"Sir, after I hear about the impending layoffs, I upgraded my skills. Now I am a master at all things compter. I can do any task that you ask quicker and with much higher quality than anyone else on the planet."
"Good for you. But you see, we don't actually care if the software we ship is buggy and very very late. What's important to us is making our investors happy, not our customers. Our investors aren't particularly bright. They are happy only when they see a little black ling on a powerpoint spreadsheet go up. It doesn't matter a hill of beans to them if it will go down in six months. As long as it goes up TODAY. So unless you are willing to work for $5,000 a year, we don't want you no matter how good your skills are."
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Distributing some of my software with DRM enabled allows me to *afford* my other contributions to the community. It pays my bills, provides food for myself and my 5 children, and lets me live comfortably.
Would you *really* want to take that away? Would you *really* want to take away my ability to help the hundreds of teachers in California that my software assists?
Selling drugs to children and running guns for terrorists *affords* my other contributions to the community. It pays my bills, provides food for myself and my 5 children, and lets me live comfortably.
Would you *really* want to take that away? Would you *really* want to take away my ability to help the hundreds of teachers in California that my software assists?
I think they're afraid the first song they give away might be the one that would have made them filthy rich if they'd just held on to it.
Maybe the reason they have no success is that they have no real love of music. They are just looking for a free ride.
bands might play a show every other night.
Yeah, and they DESERVE thier every other night work schedule so much more than a minimum wage lacky working at blockbuster. They are better people than the rest of us. They don't need to work or try hard.
PS2: 4.41 million
Gamecube: 2.12 million
Xbox: 2.03 million
Seems like a significant player to me
Sure, until you remember that the PS2 is TWO generations behind the xbox and gamecube and still sells better than both combined.
locomotion, respiration, ingestion, self-reproduction
Yeah, fire is alive.
If idiots stopped responding to it, then it will be unprofitable
Not for the people selling people the idea that idiots will repsond to it, i.e. selling the lists of email addresses. It's just like gambling. If you have 650 million people online, and only one of them has to say "yes" for you to make money, it sounds like a great idea to lots of people.
What I note is missing is how to deal with the spammers attacking the network using it's own techniques against itself. For example, flipping the ham/spam caches so that "good" mail is classified as spam and spam email is classified as good mail.
Without know EXACTLY who is participating in your network, there is no way to guard against this... and once you solve the problem of knowing exactly who is participating, then why not just use that as your uber whitelist?
When you download Shrek 2, no-one dies.
Not true! Valenti kills one kitten for every download fo shrek 2. So, YOU are actually a kitten killer for downloading it. See what you made him do?
Now our new CIO has elected to stop that benefit using the argument that we should be dedicated staff who desire to be responsive and should do what it takes to make that happen.
As well they are, of course, dedicated employers who are willing to give salary bonuses every time you respond quickly to problems and showing your loyalty and dedication, right?
You company wouldn't give away it's product for free, and neither should you!
There is absolutely No justification for stealing, regardless of the quality of the product.
Does this include copyright owners "stealing" from the American populace by not returning the works to the people as they are morally bound to do?
Something like the election for a college student body president
Interestingly enough I wrote the online election software for Southern Methodist University (assuming they still use the same thing). There was a program called Skew (for testing purposes only, of course) that could subtly adjust the ballots so that the winner could be anyone you want. Unfortunately, I was never approached with any large cash sums (but don't let you think I didn't make it well known that such a program existed, just in case), so it was never used in real life. For all I know it's still siting there, ready to go.
*I* won't vote for you
Ah, but that's the point you see... after all the votes are counted, you'll find out you DID.
The paper/pencil tool isn't too complex for the USA, it's *too simple*.
Canada has 1/10th the number of people as the USA.
Get this... Japan has 1/2 the number of people as the US, and thier ballots require you to actually WRITE THE NAME of the guy you are voting for. No punch cards, no little boxes to check. You just go in and write down his/her name.
All will go smoothly. There will be a landslide, 100% in fact, for a little known write in by the name of clambake (your's truly).
His simple, grassroots platform of emptying the US trasury into the pockets of the employees, investors and all the families related in any way to the E-Voting companies will resonate so strongly with the voters and on such a grand scale that he will become the first prsident elected who isn't even old enough to be eligible!
Bring on the recounts!
You made your own bed, now sleep in it.
As did your country. The 7k$ he could have made from you would have been off-set by the 17k$ that he would have lost from your next door neighbor. It makes a LOT of sense not to do business with you.
The only reason we don't just bomb that whole freaking disaster back to the Stone Age is that bombs can't bring a civilization UP to that level.
"U.S. warmongering"?
Is this North Korean go>v't-run paper aware that UbiSoft is not an arm of the American gov't?
If you ever have the chance to actually watch the NK news or read it's papers, EVERYTHING is further proof of the US's warmongering. If it rains next Tuesday, it's proof of the US's warmongering. If a French guy eats a taco while on vacation in Mexico, it's proof of the US's warmongering. If something sitting on some guy's desk is a particular shade of red... well, you get the idea.
It's actually quite entertaining to read.
b) All EMI CDs are treated this way, theirs isn't receiving special treatment; c) They would have preferred not to have the copy protection, but weren't allowed to differ from EMI policy.
Because poor little no-name bands like the frigging Beastie Boys have no say what-so-ever with thier record labels. If EMI policy was to remix everything with back-beats by John Tesh they would have let that slide too, huh?
Sure, we would have preferred that our songs weren't remixed as elevator music, but that's EMI policy, so we'll just live with it. -- MikeD
Ironically, many of the companies that are willing to exploit the free market to suit thier own purposes and hurt the American economy would scream to high heaven if a rich country were to try and use the free market buy thier goods in the U.S. to save money (Instead of buying thier own local versions of the same thing for twice the price.... region encoding, et al.)
American companies are around for one reason, and one reason only: to make money.
Think harder, if that were true then the Ideal American Company would be duty bound to create a super-flu to kill off the rest of humanity so it can get thier money for no cost. That would net the the MAXIMUM amount of money possible.
If a company doesn't lower prices, they'll lose sales to the companies which have lowered their prices.
Aye, thars the rub... IF other companies lower thier prices, then sure, we win... But the areas where you see the most Indian outsourcing are coincidentally the same places where we don't see a great deal of true competition. (How much was your cell phone? Mine was free, it has a web browser, camera, can run Java applets, can play mp3s, unlimited usage, no roaming charges, and all for about $40 a month with anytime cancellation free, and the service is so fantastic that I had a representative from the company track me down, come to my very door, after weeks of searching as I had not changed my address, when I moved from Osaka to Tokyo because they were concerned when my Osaka land-line phone went off-line.)
The cell company I'm with doesn't hire overseas. They pay a premium for home-grown Japanese workes and still pass on the saving to me.
Does your cell phone provider pass on it's overseas worker savings to you? Are the economic benifits you espose actually a reality for you?
You make it sound like programmers from India are automatically less qualified than American programmers. Xenophobic much?
... "Ok, let's see how it looks." ... "Oh, er, um, honestly, we never actually started on it, it was quite complex and, and and, don't worry, we'll get it done next week, we promise."), completely misunderstood specifications ("Why, exactly, did you think a web browser needed to be put into the voice-print engine, but hooks to the actual voice-recognition technology were left out?" ... "We couldn't understand the spec so we thought this would be ok."), or wrote the code for a completely innapropriate platform, despite assurances from thier own managers that they are following our clearly stated platform goals (again, flat out lies).
Honestly it's just experience. I used to assume that Indian programmers were good. I mean we always hear about how truly excellent thier engineering schools are, right? But, In the past three years I've seen three mid-sized companies decide to move thier programming force overseas and watched the quality decline, deadlines stretch further and further away, and massive, MASSIVE failures.
Finally the company finds out that it's sales have shrunk so much due to the loss of clients when things are delivered unfinished, buggy, or, in some cases, built completely on bizarro world where the spec changed magically to a completely different spec in a completely different industry of software that it can't possibly get itself back on track. And I have heard a couple similar stories from co-workers as well.
I have yet to hear or see a case where an Indian programming group isn't vastly underqualified or simply inept, and unable to deliver what it promises to. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I have yet to see it.
What I HAVE seen are flat-out lies ("We finished that part of the code last week."
It clearly isn't Indian people, all of the Indians who were born here or are on H1-B visas that I have met are on the ball and very good programmers. But there is something about the big code-monkey shops that inherently produces inexcusably poor work.
Lastly, it sounds as though you chose poorly in which skills you decided to upgrade, or you are targetting the wrong companies after upgrading your skills.
I think you have a different definition of upgrade. In the above example, I became the single best programmer in the world, but that didn't matter becuase best at programming wasn't the skill set I needed. Instead I needed to upgrade my skill set in spending frugally (cup ramen and bags of rice) and also in congressional lobbying (to lower the minimum wage) so that I could lower my salary to $5,000 a year.
Everyone benefits when companies become more productive because their products are made cheaper.
You DO understand that your economic utopia is just a pipe dream, don't you? You think outsourcing makes thing cheaper? Maybe in quality, but why the hell should a company lower the prices when it can keep the prices the same and rake in the profit? How does this help again?
"And we'd like to welcome the technology workers of America to the global economy. Please, have a seat and make yourself comfortable. If you fight it you'll only waste time you should be spending upgrading your skills."
"Sir, after I hear about the impending layoffs, I upgraded my skills. Now I am a master at all things compter. I can do any task that you ask quicker and with much higher quality than anyone else on the planet."
"Good for you. But you see, we don't actually care if the software we ship is buggy and very very late. What's important to us is making our investors happy, not our customers. Our investors aren't particularly bright. They are happy only when they see a little black ling on a powerpoint spreadsheet go up. It doesn't matter a hill of beans to them if it will go down in six months. As long as it goes up TODAY. So unless you are willing to work for $5,000 a year, we don't want you no matter how good your skills are."