All projects involve risk. Nobody owes you success just because you put work into an idea. Kickstarter has become worse than that - it's a begging corner for people who don't even want to put in the sweat equity to show that they have the basis of a viable product or service. If you're not ready to find ways to put in the time and energy (and if that means taking on a second job to do your pet project's initial funding, well, that's life) why should anyone else take any risk.
Second, if you get it half-way complete and your kickstarter campaign makes it abundantly clear that the world doesn't want your magic combo robo-pooper-scooper and poop-to-bio-fuel digester, or worse yet another crappy justin beiber wannabe, you can always look at it another way - you've learned that your idea just plain sucks. Or you can suck it up, stick it out, and continue plugging away to try to prove the world wrong.
Smarter move - create a first version with the same 50% of effort it would take to make half a "full version", and release that for free. THEN do a kickstarter campaign for add-ons, or a second version, or whatever. You'll have proven that you can produce, that you have an actual product, and that you have a plan going forward.
There was nothing preventing you from buying the motherboard and purchasing a retail copy of OS2 and installing it (though I threw out my OS2 5-1/2" install floppies a LONG time ago, for obvious reasons). Alternate OSes have been available even in the early days of consumer computing (anyone remember Coherent? Xenix? Microware OS9?).
This requires would-be developers to have significant skin already in the game (pardon the pun) in terms of time and resources invested. Better than "I have an idea, now give me money and I'll eventually build it for ya." Or all those similar-talking losers on Shark Tank and Dragons Den who think and idea with nothing else is worth big bucks.
Oddly enough, the current generation of laptop keyboards is actually mostly usable. So, while I have my laptop plugged into a second, larger screen, which I plugged a usb keyboard and mouse into, for the first time in decades I'm NOT complaining when I use the laptop stand-alone.
As for your 11" display being useless, you could have bought a laptop with a larger screen - up to 18.3". And you can still use it as a secondary display since you plugged it into a second screen.
But if you really don't want the built-in screen and keyboard, just remove them and ebay them. I'm sure there are plenty of people looking for replacements on the cheap. Oh, it's too much bother? Too bad, so sad...
So if this is such a great idea, why don't you do it (sell alternate OS installs on usb keys) and get rich? Oh, right, linux vendors have been trying (and mostly failing) to do this for more than a decade. And you want average Joe Sixpack to "boot from usb?" Do they press F2, F9, F10, F8 during the boot - different boxes use different keys. "Try one key, and if it doesn't work, reboot and try another" isn't going to work, when the boot prompt flashes by too fast for them to read.
Trolling for a quick up-mod? You purposefully ignored my point that most people wouldn't be able to do an install from a pen drive, as I wrote in the very next sentence.
People want something that runs when they take it out of the box. Telling them to buy their OS of choice on, say, a usb stick, and then going into the bios boot menu to select "boot from usb drive" to do an install is going to result in many machines simply being returned.
While we're on the topic, how would you extend that (booting from usb) to tablets and smartphones, where the real action is? Consumers don't want the hassles. They also don't want to pay out money to install an OS, plus pay for the OS if it isn't free, when the "microsoft tax" is way cheaper overall.
If Apple had had any brains, they would have licensed their OS to one and all long ago. It's not like they didn't eventually have to port it to x86 anyway, and we would have seen more competition in the OS space. Instead, with Jobs gone, Apple is no longer an innovator (the iWatch is just Apple's equivalent of the $999 "I am rich" app. Most people don't even wear watches any more - and Android has had NFC for a while).
The great thing about android phones is that, unlike iPhones, you don't have to go through the "official app store". No Google Play account needed.
As for hurting alternative search engines... just bookmark the one you prefer to use. Same with web maps. Same with email, calendaring, etc. And if that's not enough, the dev tools are free, no annual license, so if you can't find what you want, what's stopping you from making your own apps, including apps that use alternative search engines? Or having those search engines create their own apps? Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and a whole bunch of other search engine apps are available for free directly from Google Play.
Unfortunately, this ruling doesn't take into account a new reality - many new laptops come without a cd/dvd drive. It makes sense in a way - optical media are slow, suck power, generate heat, add weight, so why not get rid of them since they're usually not needed? But at the same time, how do you go about installing an OS on your shiny new os-free laptop if you don't already have an os to boot to to download your os of choice, or another computer to do the same, and no place to stick an install DVD?
People want something that runs when they take it out of the box. Telling them to buy their OS of choice on, say, a usb stick, and then going into the bios boot menu to select "boot from usb drive" to do an install is going to result in many machines simply being returned.
But do they make their money back though ads and forcing users to use Google Search and Google email, etc.
You're not forced to use Google search and email on an android phone. You can use any web-based search engine, and there are other email apps out there.
The call center employees know full well that what they're doing is a scam, same as the duct cleaning, same as all the other scams. The call center employees were caught by CBC
In Marketplace’s undercover investigation, a Karachi call centre supervisor was caught on camera reassuring a new hire that they can’t be caught.
"There is no need to worry," he says. "The customer will not be able to report us. They can’t trace us."
Employees are also told to say they’re calling from Ontario, and the callers used fake names.
They know that they're lying. They know they're running scams. Screw them.
I am more concerned about the legality of it. Running a live exploit on their network may make some ISPs fidgety. Also not sure about the position of law enforcement agencies...
The cops won't like the competition... in Soviet Russia, law enforcement exploits YOU... oh, wait...
The only people I know who own chromebooks are university students. They already have smartphones to play their games on. And regular pcs. And game consoles. Also, a quick look shows that stores are now offering dual-core intel cpus on their chromebooks, so apps running using native arm methods are going to have to be ported anyway. The upside of this is two-fold.
Given the larger screen size and different input methods, this is an opportunity to re-imagine any game or other app.
Given the faster cpus compared to, say, 5 years ago, native methods might no longer be needed. (remember all those old phone ads that showed incredibly fast scrolling, and had a disclaimer at the bottom saying "simulated screen"? No need to fake it any more on modern hardware... )
The hardware situation is only going to improve in the future, so there will be less and less need to use native code, even in games.
Been there, done that. Show me a $100 tablet that's actually running Ice Cream Sandwich or Kit Kat... as opposed to all of the ones running Gingerbread with a skin hack to look like ICS/KK and displaying a bullshit version number in Setup.
Neighbor just bought 2 today running Jelly Bean, which is newer than ICS. Dell Venue 7, $105.00 each. 2 gigs ram, 16 gigs storage, 2 (rather crappy) cams, but nice displays and long battery life.
I doubt Dell went to the trouble to print up packaging with fake specs and get them stocked in stores... so these are the real McCoy. Same as the 32 gig Kingston USB 2.0 stick I bought on sale this week for $15 that I'm installing Fedora 20 on for another laptop. There's some crazy loss-leaders out there if you look.
There are still plenty of XP boxes out there, and plenty more that are running XP in a VM.
Most of these boxes have zero need to access the greater Internet, since they're for internal use (business, civil service) or running stand-alone games or whatever (home), so nobody in these scenarios cares about SHA2 certs. XP will still have users at the end of the decade, same as DOS and Win3x apps are still around.
Android apps are interpreted byte-code, not native binaries, same as java class files are interpreted byte code. The only binary you need is the dalvek apk interpreter, same as the only binary you need to run java on a windows machine is a windows java interpreter, and the only binary you need to run the same java class files on a linux box is a linux java interpreter.
So, if they've come up with a dalvek interpreter that runs on chromebooks, this is a good thing. It shouldn't look like the crappy android development emulator that simulates a whole smartphone - just running the app itself. Android already has the calls for laying out app widgets differently / intelligently based on different-sized screens, right up to big-screen TVs.
Compare this to Canonical, which had announced their Android Execution Environment in 2009 and, like Ubuntu TV, Ubuntu Smartphone, Ubuntu One, Ubuntu for Android, the failure to crowd-source the Ubuntu Superphone, and who knows how much other vapour-ware, an android interpreter that runs on a lappy is what people wanted to play with... 5 years ago.
What next - run android apps on iPhones via a side-loaded dalvek interpreter? Android for Windows? (Could help make up for the dearth of app developers for Windows Phone, or whatever they're going to call it next week).
The Moto G series of Android phones is cheap, easy to put into developer mode to load your apps via usb, runs kitkat, and takes less time to load your compiled app onto than it takes to even start up the emulator on a quad core pc. And there's plenty of $100 android tablets around if you want to test larger displays. The AVD emulator absolutely sucks, and would have been better with a simulator.
Don't worry - Microsoft is going to pay the NFL another $400 million to use Windows Phones, just like they did with Windows Surface. And when the announcers refer to them as iPhones, they'll stick big Windows logos on them. And sent the NFL Player-Thug-Of-The-Week to beat the difference into them.
If they don't want me to see their content, I'm happy to oblige. On the other hand, if I know the site's content is worth it and the ads aren't too obtrusive, I might turn it off.
This! A good example is slashdot - I don't check the box that offers me the chance to view it ad-free. It's not like the early days of the internet when we were stuck with 56k dialup modems and ads made the page take way longer to load.
Similarly, I like reading BOfH, and I'm not going to complain about seeing a few ads that help pay for it. In my mind, it's a fair trade-off.
As for those sites (like one of my local newspapers) that keep popping up demands that I subscribe to their digital content service or I can't read the article, fine. I'll just go elsewhere.
I use OTA (over-the-air) for my HD TV. After all, even the cable and satellite services are running ads, even though you're already paying to see the content. And if there's nothing on the 20-some-odd channels I get, I can always go walk the dog, call family and friends, invite a neighbour to come visit, etc. Perhaps that explains why I rarely watch TV - there's just SO much else to do that's much more interesting.
Even worse, how is the money distributed? Who determines the "worth" of a web site or other online resource, and then allocates them their cut?
The current free-market system with sites supported by ads isn't perfect, but it's like democracy - Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
Class action lawsuits don't subvert the court system - they allow for people who otherwise wouldn't have the means to seek redress, or where businesses take unfair advantage, to have their day in court, and they send a message to other would-be predators to think twice.
Well, why NOT have violators pay? You speed, you get caught, you pay. You steal, you get caught, you pay. You kill someone, you get caught, you pay. In all these examples, there are exceptions for mitigating circumstances. If you're speeding because you have a passenger who needs to get to the hospital ASAP or they die... If you steal because someone's holding a relative hostage... If you kill someone in self-defense...
The current situation requires everyone to pay for illegal downloaders via levies on storage media and devices that incorporate storage media. I don't illegally download, why should I be penalized by those levies? And why shouldn't illegal downloaders, when caught, not be held accountable for their actions, barring any mitigating circumstances?
There have always been, and always will be, those who are falsely accused, whether it's speeding, theft, or murder. We don't deal with this by refusing to bring charges against anybody, ever, but by allowing everyone to have their day in court. To do otherwise would be to subvert the justice system, and the public of their rights to recourse. How would you like it if there were no laws against theft? Or doing 150 in a school zone? Or bumping someone off, 'just cuz'?
I doubt it - people would just make their own hamburgers. People can, and do, live without cable tv or internet access. It's not the end of the world. One way to "vote with your wallet or purse" is to just keep it closed.
The last time I looked, small claims courts were still both cheap and had less of a backlog. If you've been blocked because you've been unjustly accused of piracy, just filing a claim against them should resolve the issue pretty quickly. Sheeple look for every excuse NOT to take the initiative. It's part of our culture of learned helplessness, "wahh omg this is wrong someone ELSE needs to do something."
We see grannies in Kiev dodging bullets to fight for basic freedoms, and we're too unmotivated, too helpless, to even take a stand on minor irritants that, if unopposed, just encourage others to do come up with similar tactics to bleed us dry by the death of a thousand cuts? I simply don't buy it.
That's why I'm saying that we have a duty to ensure our rights continue to be respected. All rights come with duties, responsibilities, or obligations. Freedom simply isn't free.
I'm not saying this as idle speech. I've taken quite a few hits for standing up for people's rights. One of the latest examples is the ongoing battle between 100 tenants and the new landlords, who want to kick everyone out and integrate the 4 buildings into a housing co-op with significant rent increases. At the public meeting on October 31st, I tore apart their claims that they could unilaterally terminate the tenants leases without cause, and pointed out that what they claimed was "the maximum compensation permitted by law" wasn't even the minimum. To try to shut me up, their director proceeded to me as a transsexual to all my neighbours who were at the meeting, as well as others. That's the sort of toothpaste that not only can't be stuffed back in the tube, but spread quickly through the community. Between December and January I was assaulted 3 times. Connection?
2 weeks ago the director had to publish a public notice. In the largest daily newspaper. In the regular news section. It reads, in part, "I, Daniel Lefebvre, sincerely apologize to Madame Barbara Hudson if I I offended her in any way with words making reference to her transsexuality at the information meeting for residents of Anthony Street."
It's one thing to be out on slashdot (2006, iirc), quite another in my own community. I paid the price for standing up for my neighbours and I'd do it again, even though it's caused quite a bit of friction in the family. After all, it's everyone's duty to "pay it forward" out of respect for the men and women who throughout history have fought to give us the rights we have today. Those who won't because it's "too inconvenient" are pissing on the sacrifices of previous generations.
Great example of the perverse incentives of capitalism. Selling provides a higher return than investing in technical innovation.
At least that's the perception of the bosses, which is why the programmers who create the product are regarded as simple "hired help, interchangeable, not worthy of respec, etc." See Dilbert. Or get a cattle prod (you can probably order one from the BOfH).
Currently, private copy royalties are generated in the US by the sale of "blank CDs and personal audio devices, media centers, satellite radio devices, and car audio systems that have recording capabilities
That includes iPods. In other parts of the world, the list is more extensive, and the levies much higher. So, if we could eliminate most piracy, the argument for the need of the levy would be gone, and honest people would be able to buy their stuff cheaper.
Actually, what you wrote was "if you want real value, get a basket of eggs," Singular. That's your definition of "real value", and your advice. Not "get one or more baskets of eggs." Also, if everyone got "a basket of eggs" and started hatching hens, the value of eggs and chickens would quickly drop to nothing, as there would be such an abundance that you wouldn't be able to give them away, but instead have to pay to have the excess destroyed
But let's get back to the real world. I can buy eggs in the store for a lot less than I could produce them myself ( large eggs are $1.44 a dozen thanks to economies of scale). And I don't have to worry about having too many or not enough at any one time - I buy just what I need. I'm sure my neighbours also appreciate that I don't raise chickens.
Slashdot Mirror
All projects involve risk. Nobody owes you success just because you put work into an idea. Kickstarter has become worse than that - it's a begging corner for people who don't even want to put in the sweat equity to show that they have the basis of a viable product or service. If you're not ready to find ways to put in the time and energy (and if that means taking on a second job to do your pet project's initial funding, well, that's life) why should anyone else take any risk.
Second, if you get it half-way complete and your kickstarter campaign makes it abundantly clear that the world doesn't want your magic combo robo-pooper-scooper and poop-to-bio-fuel digester, or worse yet another crappy justin beiber wannabe, you can always look at it another way - you've learned that your idea just plain sucks. Or you can suck it up, stick it out, and continue plugging away to try to prove the world wrong.
Smarter move - create a first version with the same 50% of effort it would take to make half a "full version", and release that for free. THEN do a kickstarter campaign for add-ons, or a second version, or whatever. You'll have proven that you can produce, that you have an actual product, and that you have a plan going forward.
There was nothing preventing you from buying the motherboard and purchasing a retail copy of OS2 and installing it (though I threw out my OS2 5-1/2" install floppies a LONG time ago, for obvious reasons). Alternate OSes have been available even in the early days of consumer computing (anyone remember Coherent? Xenix? Microware OS9?).
This requires would-be developers to have significant skin already in the game (pardon the pun) in terms of time and resources invested. Better than "I have an idea, now give me money and I'll eventually build it for ya." Or all those similar-talking losers on Shark Tank and Dragons Den who think and idea with nothing else is worth big bucks.
But if you really don't want the built-in screen and keyboard, just remove them and ebay them. I'm sure there are plenty of people looking for replacements on the cheap. Oh, it's too much bother? Too bad, so sad ...
So if this is such a great idea, why don't you do it (sell alternate OS installs on usb keys) and get rich? Oh, right, linux vendors have been trying (and mostly failing) to do this for more than a decade. And you want average Joe Sixpack to "boot from usb?" Do they press F2, F9, F10, F8 during the boot - different boxes use different keys. "Try one key, and if it doesn't work, reboot and try another" isn't going to work, when the boot prompt flashes by too fast for them to read.
People want something that runs when they take it out of the box. Telling them to buy their OS of choice on, say, a usb stick, and then going into the bios boot menu to select "boot from usb drive" to do an install is going to result in many machines simply being returned.
While we're on the topic, how would you extend that (booting from usb) to tablets and smartphones, where the real action is? Consumers don't want the hassles. They also don't want to pay out money to install an OS, plus pay for the OS if it isn't free, when the "microsoft tax" is way cheaper overall.
If Apple had had any brains, they would have licensed their OS to one and all long ago. It's not like they didn't eventually have to port it to x86 anyway, and we would have seen more competition in the OS space. Instead, with Jobs gone, Apple is no longer an innovator (the iWatch is just Apple's equivalent of the $999 "I am rich" app. Most people don't even wear watches any more - and Android has had NFC for a while).
As for hurting alternative search engines ... just bookmark the one you prefer to use. Same with web maps. Same with email, calendaring, etc. And if that's not enough, the dev tools are free, no annual license, so if you can't find what you want, what's stopping you from making your own apps, including apps that use alternative search engines? Or having those search engines create their own apps? Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and a whole bunch of other search engine apps are available for free directly from Google Play.
People want something that runs when they take it out of the box. Telling them to buy their OS of choice on, say, a usb stick, and then going into the bios boot menu to select "boot from usb drive" to do an install is going to result in many machines simply being returned.
But do they make their money back though ads and forcing users to use Google Search and Google email, etc.
You're not forced to use Google search and email on an android phone. You can use any web-based search engine, and there are other email apps out there.
In Marketplace’s undercover investigation, a Karachi call centre supervisor was caught on camera reassuring a new hire that they can’t be caught.
"There is no need to worry," he says. "The customer will not be able to report us. They can’t trace us."
Employees are also told to say they’re calling from Ontario, and the callers used fake names.
They know that they're lying. They know they're running scams. Screw them.
I am more concerned about the legality of it. Running a live exploit on their network may make some ISPs fidgety. Also not sure about the position of law enforcement agencies...
The cops won't like the competition ... in Soviet Russia, law enforcement exploits YOU ... oh, wait ...
The hardware situation is only going to improve in the future, so there will be less and less need to use native code, even in games.
Been there, done that. Show me a $100 tablet that's actually running Ice Cream Sandwich or Kit Kat... as opposed to all of the ones running Gingerbread with a skin hack to look like ICS/KK and displaying a bullshit version number in Setup.
Neighbor just bought 2 today running Jelly Bean, which is newer than ICS. Dell Venue 7, $105.00 each. 2 gigs ram, 16 gigs storage, 2 (rather crappy) cams, but nice displays and long battery life.
I doubt Dell went to the trouble to print up packaging with fake specs and get them stocked in stores ... so these are the real McCoy. Same as the 32 gig Kingston USB 2.0 stick I bought on sale this week for $15 that I'm installing Fedora 20 on for another laptop. There's some crazy loss-leaders out there if you look.
Most of these boxes have zero need to access the greater Internet, since they're for internal use (business, civil service) or running stand-alone games or whatever (home), so nobody in these scenarios cares about SHA2 certs. XP will still have users at the end of the decade, same as DOS and Win3x apps are still around.
Say, many android apps have arm binaries
Android apps are interpreted byte-code, not native binaries, same as java class files are interpreted byte code. The only binary you need is the dalvek apk interpreter, same as the only binary you need to run java on a windows machine is a windows java interpreter, and the only binary you need to run the same java class files on a linux box is a linux java interpreter.
So, if they've come up with a dalvek interpreter that runs on chromebooks, this is a good thing. It shouldn't look like the crappy android development emulator that simulates a whole smartphone - just running the app itself. Android already has the calls for laying out app widgets differently / intelligently based on different-sized screens, right up to big-screen TVs.
Compare this to Canonical, which had announced their Android Execution Environment in 2009 and, like Ubuntu TV, Ubuntu Smartphone, Ubuntu One, Ubuntu for Android, the failure to crowd-source the Ubuntu Superphone, and who knows how much other vapour-ware, an android interpreter that runs on a lappy is what people wanted to play with ... 5 years ago.
What next - run android apps on iPhones via a side-loaded dalvek interpreter? Android for Windows? (Could help make up for the dearth of app developers for Windows Phone, or whatever they're going to call it next week).
The Moto G series of Android phones is cheap, easy to put into developer mode to load your apps via usb, runs kitkat, and takes less time to load your compiled app onto than it takes to even start up the emulator on a quad core pc. And there's plenty of $100 android tablets around if you want to test larger displays. The AVD emulator absolutely sucks, and would have been better with a simulator.
Don't worry - Microsoft is going to pay the NFL another $400 million to use Windows Phones, just like they did with Windows Surface. And when the announcers refer to them as iPhones, they'll stick big Windows logos on them. And sent the NFL Player-Thug-Of-The-Week to beat the difference into them.
If they don't want me to see their content, I'm happy to oblige. On the other hand, if I know the site's content is worth it and the ads aren't too obtrusive, I might turn it off.
This! A good example is slashdot - I don't check the box that offers me the chance to view it ad-free. It's not like the early days of the internet when we were stuck with 56k dialup modems and ads made the page take way longer to load.
Similarly, I like reading BOfH, and I'm not going to complain about seeing a few ads that help pay for it. In my mind, it's a fair trade-off.
As for those sites (like one of my local newspapers) that keep popping up demands that I subscribe to their digital content service or I can't read the article, fine. I'll just go elsewhere.
I use OTA (over-the-air) for my HD TV. After all, even the cable and satellite services are running ads, even though you're already paying to see the content. And if there's nothing on the 20-some-odd channels I get, I can always go walk the dog, call family and friends, invite a neighbour to come visit, etc. Perhaps that explains why I rarely watch TV - there's just SO much else to do that's much more interesting.
The current free-market system with sites supported by ads isn't perfect, but it's like democracy - Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
Well, why NOT have violators pay? You speed, you get caught, you pay. You steal, you get caught, you pay. You kill someone, you get caught, you pay. In all these examples, there are exceptions for mitigating circumstances. If you're speeding because you have a passenger who needs to get to the hospital ASAP or they die ... If you steal because someone's holding a relative hostage ... If you kill someone in self-defense ...
The current situation requires everyone to pay for illegal downloaders via levies on storage media and devices that incorporate storage media. I don't illegally download, why should I be penalized by those levies? And why shouldn't illegal downloaders, when caught, not be held accountable for their actions, barring any mitigating circumstances?
There have always been, and always will be, those who are falsely accused, whether it's speeding, theft, or murder. We don't deal with this by refusing to bring charges against anybody, ever, but by allowing everyone to have their day in court. To do otherwise would be to subvert the justice system, and the public of their rights to recourse. How would you like it if there were no laws against theft? Or doing 150 in a school zone? Or bumping someone off, 'just cuz'?
I doubt it - people would just make their own hamburgers. People can, and do, live without cable tv or internet access. It's not the end of the world. One way to "vote with your wallet or purse" is to just keep it closed.
We see grannies in Kiev dodging bullets to fight for basic freedoms, and we're too unmotivated, too helpless, to even take a stand on minor irritants that, if unopposed, just encourage others to do come up with similar tactics to bleed us dry by the death of a thousand cuts? I simply don't buy it.
That's why I'm saying that we have a duty to ensure our rights continue to be respected. All rights come with duties, responsibilities, or obligations. Freedom simply isn't free.
I'm not saying this as idle speech. I've taken quite a few hits for standing up for people's rights. One of the latest examples is the ongoing battle between 100 tenants and the new landlords, who want to kick everyone out and integrate the 4 buildings into a housing co-op with significant rent increases. At the public meeting on October 31st, I tore apart their claims that they could unilaterally terminate the tenants leases without cause, and pointed out that what they claimed was "the maximum compensation permitted by law" wasn't even the minimum. To try to shut me up, their director proceeded to me as a transsexual to all my neighbours who were at the meeting, as well as others. That's the sort of toothpaste that not only can't be stuffed back in the tube, but spread quickly through the community. Between December and January I was assaulted 3 times. Connection?
2 weeks ago the director had to publish a public notice. In the largest daily newspaper. In the regular news section. It reads, in part, "I, Daniel Lefebvre, sincerely apologize to Madame Barbara Hudson if I I offended her in any way with words making reference to her transsexuality at the information meeting for residents of Anthony Street."
It's one thing to be out on slashdot (2006, iirc), quite another in my own community. I paid the price for standing up for my neighbours and I'd do it again, even though it's caused quite a bit of friction in the family. After all, it's everyone's duty to "pay it forward" out of respect for the men and women who throughout history have fought to give us the rights we have today. Those who won't because it's "too inconvenient" are pissing on the sacrifices of previous generations.
Great example of the perverse incentives of capitalism. Selling provides a higher return than investing in technical innovation.
At least that's the perception of the bosses, which is why the programmers who create the product are regarded as simple "hired help, interchangeable, not worthy of respec, etc." See Dilbert. Or get a cattle prod (you can probably order one from the BOfH).
Here's your answer
Currently, private copy royalties are generated in the US by the sale of "blank CDs and personal audio devices, media centers, satellite radio devices, and car audio systems that have recording capabilities
That includes iPods. In other parts of the world, the list is more extensive, and the levies much higher. So, if we could eliminate most piracy, the argument for the need of the levy would be gone, and honest people would be able to buy their stuff cheaper.
But let's get back to the real world. I can buy eggs in the store for a lot less than I could produce them myself ( large eggs are $1.44 a dozen thanks to economies of scale). And I don't have to worry about having too many or not enough at any one time - I buy just what I need. I'm sure my neighbours also appreciate that I don't raise chickens.