The RIAA already has a significant number of lawmakers in "panic-mode." They've freaked 'em out enough to believe that money is being lost hand-over fist, and even though the our sales don't appear to be suffering, our revenues could be MUCH HIGHER blah blah blah.
So, what happens next? A bunch of us decide we're not going to buy CDs. What does the RIAA do?
They jump up and scream, waving sheets of sales-data in the faces of those in the commerce-committee; "SEE! WE TOLD YOU! OUR SALES ARE DOWN! THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! BAD NAPSTER! BAD GNUTELLA! BAD NAPIGATOR! BAD SCOUR.COM!!"
I don't think that any "Boycott the RIAA" movement will be considered "legitimate enough" to be taken seriously, but a thousand groups with insignificant impact individually makes a significant (or at least noticable) impact, and plays right into the RIAA's hands.
Sen. McCain: "So, even though the 'Boycotttheriaa.org' site is boycotting the cds of the companies you represent, you say that the boycott is not part of your sales dip?"
RIAA Stooge: "No. Well, not significant anyway. See, our research shows that Boycotttheriaa.org boycott only accounts for point-zero-zero-zero-two percent of our sales-dip."
Sen. McCain: Golly! You're right! Send out the jack-booted thugs!
If the appeal is successful, and the ruling overturned, the Department of Justice can request an appeal, but only if the administration decides it's a good idea.
<br> However, both parties in the next election have said that they would stop the DOJ if they could. Once one is elected, the DOJ's hands will likely be tied.<br> <br> It's all about timing.
Microsoft's decision to use JScript in its Web-widgets was a technical one, but is no longer necessary with VBScript 5.0. JScript was used to instantiate real objects and classes, which, until recently, were not available to VBScript.
As long as we keep talking, watching and listening we can keep Slashdot safe.
I agree with you in principle, but what a U$5billion company will want to do with Linux is make it as mainstream as possible. Get it out to the masses. I'm afraid that once that happens, the open-source community will sound like a cricket in a symphony, and any kind of watch-dog project could be just as easily ignored.
I remember, when I was a Warp user, talking to an IBM guy from Boca who said that their estimated 20 million OS/2 Warp users were counted by raw unit sales.
"So", says I, "what about people like me, who bought 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 when they came out?"
"Well", says he, "you'd be counted as three people..."
Now, let's see, I've bought: Slackware 1.3, RedHat 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and SuSe 5.2. Woo-hooo! I'm 5 of that 750 million!!!
Slashdot Mirror
It also happened in 1976, when one elector, I believe from the state of Washington, voted for Ronald Reagan.
The RIAA already has a significant number of lawmakers in "panic-mode." They've freaked 'em out enough to believe that money is being lost hand-over fist, and even though the our sales don't appear to be suffering, our revenues could be MUCH HIGHER blah blah blah.
So, what happens next? A bunch of us decide we're not going to buy CDs. What does the RIAA do?
They jump up and scream, waving sheets of sales-data in the faces of those in the commerce-committee; "SEE! WE TOLD YOU! OUR SALES ARE DOWN! THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! BAD NAPSTER! BAD GNUTELLA! BAD NAPIGATOR! BAD SCOUR.COM!!"
I don't think that any "Boycott the RIAA" movement will be considered "legitimate enough" to be taken seriously, but a thousand groups with insignificant impact individually makes a significant (or at least noticable) impact, and plays right into the RIAA's hands.
Sen. McCain: "So, even though the 'Boycotttheriaa.org' site is boycotting the cds of the companies you represent, you say that the boycott is not part of your sales dip?"
RIAA Stooge: "No. Well, not significant anyway. See, our research shows that Boycotttheriaa.org boycott only accounts for point-zero-zero-zero-two percent of our sales-dip."
Sen. McCain: Golly! You're right! Send out the jack-booted thugs!
If the appeal is successful, and the ruling overturned, the Department of Justice can request an appeal, but only if the administration decides it's a good idea.
<br>
However, both parties in the next election have said that they would stop the DOJ if they could. Once one is elected, the DOJ's hands will likely be tied.<br>
<br>
It's all about timing.
That's not true. The case will, as everybody knows, be on appeal, and remain open. The DOJ can drop the case at any time during the appeals process.
Microsoft's decision to use JScript in its Web-widgets was a technical one, but is no longer necessary with VBScript 5.0. JScript was used to instantiate real objects and classes, which, until recently, were not available to VBScript.
As long as we keep talking, watching and listening we can keep Slashdot safe.
I agree with you in principle, but what a U$5billion company will want to do with Linux is make it as mainstream as possible. Get it out to the masses. I'm afraid that once that happens, the open-source community will sound like a cricket in a symphony, and any kind of watch-dog project could be just as easily ignored.
I keep seeing the word "Stamina" and "Battery Life" almost like the camera is on "Demo Mode."
I remember, when I was a Warp user, talking to an IBM guy from Boca who said that their estimated 20 million OS/2 Warp users were counted by raw unit sales.
"So", says I, "what about people like me, who bought 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 when they came out?"
"Well", says he, "you'd be counted as three people..."
Now, let's see, I've bought: Slackware 1.3, RedHat 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and SuSe 5.2. Woo-hooo! I'm 5 of that 750 million!!!