It would be interesting to see the public's reaction if the principle were demonstrated more visibly: pick out an equal percentage of random citizens. Tape their mouths shut to prevent free speech.
Actually, the middlemen want 100% of ANY number, and don't want ANYONE else to have ANY cut. In their eyes, all of a small pie is better than the same absolute numbers as a share of a huge pie.
Some people can't "win" unless everybody else loses.:(
I had a related thought... as soon as the content owners notice that FileX is the hot download of the day, they could announce that FileX is available FROM THEIR OWN SITES, for a nominal charge -- and they can guarantee that it's a good file and available immediately.
As word spreads, they'd become the FIRST place people look for media downloads, and would make a killing on micropayments. What's more, this could be automated, and after the initial setup, would be effectively free of all costs other than bandwidth. It'd be like free money falling on their heads, with all the marketing done BY the customer base.
Yeah, some of these legally-downloaded files will find their way to P2P networks, but so what? Who'd waste time scrounging P2P, and hoping to get an intact and correct download, when for 10 cents you could get the real thing, guaranteed to be a good file AND free of legal threats??
And the piracy issue could be largely eliminated by offering affiliate programs, frex:
1) you host the files and provide the bandwidth, and you get NN-percent of the payment for each file. And to thank you for hosting the files, you get free personal use of the content.
Or 2) for folks without adequate servers of their own, these affiliates could provide a web portal that links to the content owner's server, and get some smaller percentage of the payment.
If the content owners did all this, P2P piracy would largely dry up overnight -- it wouldn't be worth the effort for average folks, and getting in on the gravy train would attract a whole lot of the people who presently collect and distribute huge numbers of files just because they CAN, not because they have any real use for them.
Not only that, but without access to said plans, how do you expect to find your own kid in the event of an actual emergency??
And how would you know if the plans might actually put kids in more danger than if there was no plan at all?
Realworld example of some years back: fire escape plans that sent kids out onto a busy main street, rather than toward quieter side streets.
ISTM such screwups are far more likely than any hypothetical use of said plans by a (OMG!!) Terrorist or Child Molester, or whatever is this week's Official FUD.
"If you're going to have a game that's 'gun porn', why not treat it like an OTT action movie and just throw in hundreds of disposable, easily-killed goons coming at you from all angles a la Arnie's Commando? I mean, Jesus, why does it take 12-15 bullets to the chest just to put one generic bad guy down? I want a hilarious blood-spurting ragdoll death spasm if I hit him in the toe!"
Congratulations. You've just reinvented DOOM!!
This isn't so bad... considering DOOM is not only my fave video game, it's also the only one I still play every bloody day! Thank ghu for add-ons.:D
REAL old-timers tell of when it was even worse, and folk had to count on our fingers and toes! And then that newfangled "boot" thing came along, limiting everyone to decimal... except those who got RSI from all the extra calculating, they had to thumb it. Thus, the invention of binary.
As to the next or previous generation of hardware, I don't know, but at the time both OS and hardware were very version-specific.
Long long time ago, and the details have largely fallen out of my head, but the point was... in response to the parent post, yes, programmers *have* been instructed NOT to fix bugs, solely to aid company profits.
Yep, am aware of APT, strikes me as generally a good system for stuff that's often updated (provided the user has control over what gets patched, and over backing out bad ones) -- and certainly progress over the version hell that linux apps *can* be when nothing keeps track!
Certainly would be nice if neither apps nor coders had to worry about interacting with older/newer versions of the "same" DLL, eh?
I'd think for stuff installed on your local system, there'd be no need to go searching the 'net for compatible components -- every app should come with its own, and under the database theory of avoiding DLL Hell, should bloody well know what's available on the local system.
Is there any reason an application can't parse the path (which could mean the appropriate registry hive) and LOOK for a.DLL that's the correct version to work with itself? check.DLL version number, whoops, wrong one, but instead of throwing an error, let's look for the next one... aha, here's the right version, keep on running without the user ever knowing what happened.
Is that feasible in Win/*NIX apps?
I recall that the old Go32 DOS extender did something like that, albeit from the other end: put Go32v2 first in your path, and v1 after it in the path; then when a DOS app called Go32v1, Go32v2 would examine the request, and if it was for Go32v1, passed it along the path, so the app found the Go32v1 that it was expecting.
I see this all the time in my non-tech-savvy clients. The LESS they understand about software and hardware, the MORE fearful they are of being "left behind". So they glom onto every update and upgrade that comes down the pipe, despite having many problems with altogether too many of these upgrades.
My advice is always this: unless a particular update fixes a problem YOU are experiencing, or a particular upgrade supplies a new feature that YOU need, DON'T DO IT. The application update that fixes a problem on your neighbour's machine may break yours beyond repair. The upgrade that doesn't give you anything you need may also make it much harder to use the rest of the software.
I know a guy who was part of the core devteam for MacOS7. He told me that they were actually FORBIDDEN to create a patch to fix a critical hardware bug, which rendered the system unusable for the very multimedia use for which it was being marketed. Why? Because the bug was fixed in the next incarnation of the hardware... and if you wanted your multimedia stuff to work, you had to upgrade the whole damn monkey!!
About 10 years ago, I had a credit card company pull similar shit (they had enough nasty habits that they wound up "featured" on 60 Minutes AND 20-20, so it wasn't just me)... to make a long complaint short, they jacked my interest rate up to 24% without the legally required notice. I called them up, was Forceful until I got a supervisor, then threatened to turn them in to the California state agency in charge of approving credit card companies for doing business in this state. (I had enough evidence to at the very least get them fined, and possibly get their approval to operate in CA yanked -- at the time the state agency was being very hard-assed about punishing such violations.)
Funny thing, as of my next bill my interest rate was back down where it belonged, and some other problems caused by their bogus procedures also went away.
I'd have moved my account to another provider, except that a month or so later, AAA-VISA moved ALL their accounts to another bank, who have exhibited no such rotten habits.
While people bitch and whine about the slowness of our "timesharing" legal system (really good way to decribe it!), normally it is more to our advantage than not -- gives additional evidence a chance to be found, etc.
Still, the people who wind up in limbo, waiting for the legal wheels to grind their slow course and mash bad laws out of existence, are not going to be happy with their lost time and lost defense money; they don't get compensated for that, do they?
I did get the feeling, when I RTF Bill, that it originated as backlash courtesy of some powerful person who felt personally burned by an anonymous forum post (libelous or not), and who wants an instant way to ID and grab parties who so offend, and shake them by the neck until they shut up.
(BTW thanks for all the informative posts over the years.)
The federal trump is all well and good, but what about the people who get dragged in front of NJ courts in the meantime? How long does it usually take for such wrongfully made state laws to be struck down?
More of an expression of my own judgment call, having also RTFA and followed similar, ah, controversies in the past...
Most people here do far more fuzzy judgments all the time, with far less to go on -- just a say-so from someone they only know by repute, and that filtered thru several layers of other folks' opinion. This sucks, that's wonderful, so-and-so is a crook, wonderful-guy would never do that, whatever, without actually knowing ANY of the parties involved.
Re:I love the backdoor in MacOS X - it has its use
on
No Backdoor in Vista
·
· Score: 1
That's a good point. In case of death or disaster, SOMEONE has to be able to get at encrypted data that wasn't the sole property of the party who just met up with a bus. Not having such a method is just begging to lose said data, because sooner or later, accidents and disasters happen.
The only question is, WHO has access to said backdoor. If it's only accessable to other people in your company, who are next in line to handle said data, great, that's as it should be. If it's 1337 Hacker or Secret Agent Man, not so good!!
Thanks for the info. I don't know Niels, but I do know Bruce, and will take their previous association as sufficient to assure me of Niels' honest intent.
Slashdot Mirror
Costco has a similar policy on computers: return within nn-months (I think it's also 6 months) and no questions asked.
As to Alienware's service, search on gripe2ed.com for a host of complaints all in one convenient location.
[disclaimer: I build my own PCs and have no stake in this one way or the other.]
It would be interesting to see the public's reaction if the principle were demonstrated more visibly: pick out an equal percentage of random citizens. Tape their mouths shut to prevent free speech.
Remember, citizens, enough duct tape silences anyone!!
Actually, the middlemen want 100% of ANY number, and don't want ANYONE else to have ANY cut. In their eyes, all of a small pie is better than the same absolute numbers as a share of a huge pie.
:(
Some people can't "win" unless everybody else loses.
I had a related thought... as soon as the content owners notice that FileX is the hot download of the day, they could announce that FileX is available FROM THEIR OWN SITES, for a nominal charge -- and they can guarantee that it's a good file and available immediately.
As word spreads, they'd become the FIRST place people look for media downloads, and would make a killing on micropayments. What's more, this could be automated, and after the initial setup, would be effectively free of all costs other than bandwidth. It'd be like free money falling on their heads, with all the marketing done BY the customer base.
Yeah, some of these legally-downloaded files will find their way to P2P networks, but so what? Who'd waste time scrounging P2P, and hoping to get an intact and correct download, when for 10 cents you could get the real thing, guaranteed to be a good file AND free of legal threats??
And the piracy issue could be largely eliminated by offering affiliate programs, frex:
1) you host the files and provide the bandwidth, and you get NN-percent of the payment for each file. And to thank you for hosting the files, you get free personal use of the content.
Or 2) for folks without adequate servers of their own, these affiliates could provide a web portal that links to the content owner's server, and get some smaller percentage of the payment.
If the content owners did all this, P2P piracy would largely dry up overnight -- it wouldn't be worth the effort for average folks, and getting in on the gravy train would attract a whole lot of the people who presently collect and distribute huge numbers of files just because they CAN, not because they have any real use for them.
Not only that, but without access to said plans, how do you expect to find your own kid in the event of an actual emergency??
And how would you know if the plans might actually put kids in more danger than if there was no plan at all?
Realworld example of some years back: fire escape plans that sent kids out onto a busy main street, rather than toward quieter side streets.
ISTM such screwups are far more likely than any hypothetical use of said plans by a (OMG!!) Terrorist or Child Molester, or whatever is this week's Official FUD.
"If you're going to have a game that's 'gun porn', why not treat it like an OTT action movie and just throw in hundreds of disposable, easily-killed goons coming at you from all angles a la Arnie's Commando? I mean, Jesus, why does it take 12-15 bullets to the chest just to put one generic bad guy down? I want a hilarious blood-spurting ragdoll death spasm if I hit him in the toe!"
:D
Congratulations. You've just reinvented DOOM!!
This isn't so bad... considering DOOM is not only my fave video game, it's also the only one I still play every bloody day! Thank ghu for add-ons.
Damn... that's so, like, 20th century!! Your grandchildren must be ashamed. [g]
REAL old-timers tell of when it was even worse, and folk had to count on our fingers and toes! And then that newfangled "boot" thing came along, limiting everyone to decimal... except those who got RSI from all the extra calculating, they had to thumb it. Thus, the invention of binary.
Kids these days, you've got it too easy. Back in MY day, we had to first build our own servers if we wanted something to break into!
As to the next or previous generation of hardware, I don't know, but at the time both OS and hardware were very version-specific.
Long long time ago, and the details have largely fallen out of my head, but the point was... in response to the parent post, yes, programmers *have* been instructed NOT to fix bugs, solely to aid company profits.
Yep, am aware of APT, strikes me as generally a good system for stuff that's often updated (provided the user has control over what gets patched, and over backing out bad ones) -- and certainly progress over the version hell that linux apps *can* be when nothing keeps track!
Certainly would be nice if neither apps nor coders had to worry about interacting with older/newer versions of the "same" DLL, eh?
I'd think for stuff installed on your local system, there'd be no need to go searching the 'net for compatible components -- every app should come with its own, and under the database theory of avoiding DLL Hell, should bloody well know what's available on the local system.
Is there any reason an application can't parse the path (which could mean the appropriate registry hive) and LOOK for a .DLL that's the correct version to work with itself? check .DLL version number, whoops, wrong one, but instead of throwing an error, let's look for the next one... aha, here's the right version, keep on running without the user ever knowing what happened.
:)
Is that feasible in Win/*NIX apps?
I recall that the old Go32 DOS extender did something like that, albeit from the other end: put Go32v2 first in your path, and v1 after it in the path; then when a DOS app called Go32v1, Go32v2 would examine the request, and if it was for Go32v1, passed it along the path, so the app found the Go32v1 that it was expecting.
[note: IANAProgrammer. Use small words.
I see this all the time in my non-tech-savvy clients. The LESS they understand about software and hardware, the MORE fearful they are of being "left behind". So they glom onto every update and upgrade that comes down the pipe, despite having many problems with altogether too many of these upgrades.
My advice is always this: unless a particular update fixes a problem YOU are experiencing, or a particular upgrade supplies a new feature that YOU need, DON'T DO IT. The application update that fixes a problem on your neighbour's machine may break yours beyond repair. The upgrade that doesn't give you anything you need may also make it much harder to use the rest of the software.
Bah, you early adopters, always volunteering to bleed for the rest of us... I'm still running Corel PhotoPaint v8.0, and loving every minute of it.
(I have v11.0 on another machine, but like the old one better.)
It may not be so far off.
I know a guy who was part of the core devteam for MacOS7. He told me that they were actually FORBIDDEN to create a patch to fix a critical hardware bug, which rendered the system unusable for the very multimedia use for which it was being marketed. Why? Because the bug was fixed in the next incarnation of the hardware... and if you wanted your multimedia stuff to work, you had to upgrade the whole damn monkey!!
About 10 years ago, I had a credit card company pull similar shit (they had enough nasty habits that they wound up "featured" on 60 Minutes AND 20-20, so it wasn't just me) ... to make a long complaint short, they jacked my interest rate up to 24% without the legally required notice. I called them up, was Forceful until I got a supervisor, then threatened to turn them in to the California state agency in charge of approving credit card companies for doing business in this state. (I had enough evidence to at the very least get them fined, and possibly get their approval to operate in CA yanked -- at the time the state agency was being very hard-assed about punishing such violations.)
Funny thing, as of my next bill my interest rate was back down where it belonged, and some other problems caused by their bogus procedures also went away.
I'd have moved my account to another provider, except that a month or so later, AAA-VISA moved ALL their accounts to another bank, who have exhibited no such rotten habits.
Hopefully you're right. It's easier to stop something like this when you've got the ACLU, EFF, and other such groups in a Useful Uproar.
While people bitch and whine about the slowness of our "timesharing" legal system (really good way to decribe it!), normally it is more to our advantage than not -- gives additional evidence a chance to be found, etc.
Still, the people who wind up in limbo, waiting for the legal wheels to grind their slow course and mash bad laws out of existence, are not going to be happy with their lost time and lost defense money; they don't get compensated for that, do they?
I did get the feeling, when I RTF Bill, that it originated as backlash courtesy of some powerful person who felt personally burned by an anonymous forum post (libelous or not), and who wants an instant way to ID and grab parties who so offend, and shake them by the neck until they shut up.
(BTW thanks for all the informative posts over the years.)
No, no, no. You'll have only ONE user, who makes ALL the posts:
Name: Peter J. Biondi
Address: 1 E. High St., Somerville NJ 08876
email: AsmBiondi@njleg.org
The federal trump is all well and good, but what about the people who get dragged in front of NJ courts in the meantime? How long does it usually take for such wrongfully made state laws to be struck down?
More of an expression of my own judgment call, having also RTFA and followed similar, ah, controversies in the past...
Most people here do far more fuzzy judgments all the time, with far less to go on -- just a say-so from someone they only know by repute, and that filtered thru several layers of other folks' opinion. This sucks, that's wonderful, so-and-so is a crook, wonderful-guy would never do that, whatever, without actually knowing ANY of the parties involved.
That's a good point. In case of death or disaster, SOMEONE has to be able to get at encrypted data that wasn't the sole property of the party who just met up with a bus. Not having such a method is just begging to lose said data, because sooner or later, accidents and disasters happen.
The only question is, WHO has access to said backdoor. If it's only accessable to other people in your company, who are next in line to handle said data, great, that's as it should be. If it's 1337 Hacker or Secret Agent Man, not so good!!
Thanks for the info. I don't know Niels, but I do know Bruce, and will take their previous association as sufficient to assure me of Niels' honest intent.
Somehow this reminds me of the old joke,
"REAL programmers use COPY CON PROGRAM.ZIP"