This may not help the junior programmer, but if you own a version of the Palm dev tools from Metrowerks, you can get the current version for $199. I realize that getting _in_ requires a significant layout of capital, but continuing isn't that expensive.
Of course, they used to have the "Discover Programming" series (at least for Win/Mac), something like that might not be too bad for budding PalmOS developer kiddies.
until they release Halo 1 for the Macintosh. Since that was the ONE freaking thing they promised us when that jackass sellout Alex Seropian announced that Microsoft would never tell Bungie what software to make (that sure lasted long, didn't it, you arrogant dickweed? Assimilation is always complete).
Not according to the Old, which proclaims that the Jews are the chosen people of God.
All the New Testament does is revise this, saying that "whosoever shall believe in me shall not die but have everlasting life." This is nothing more than a questioning of the Old Testament's teachings in light of new evidence. Why stop there?
Can you prove that the light of scientific discovery is not the Voice of God for a new generation? It certainly seems plausible that the miracles being shown to everyday people in the current day and age are inside of science ("whoa, electrons, protons, and neutrons are not the fundamental particles"... discovering quarks qualifies as a miracle, in my book), and not in a burning bush. God has stopped screaming, and started whispering, it seems to me.
It's been mentioned. Linux and Mac OS X both have many similar tools built in, sometimes identical tools. The ADC tools can be had, for free, although I don't know that you can sign up yourself if you are under 18 (never tried, I ain't been 18 in many a moon). Lisp, BASIC, Perl, PHP, C, C++, Objective-C, Java, Python, and just about any other language you can think of are available, most of them natively, and most of them completely for free. With one ~$70 purchase (BBEdit, because syntax coloring is REALLY REALLY helpful, especially when you're just learning) above and beyond the cost of the computer, you've given the child an enormous opportunity to learn programming.
After the child has grown up some with Mac OS X, and has built some automation with AppleScript, Perl/Python/cron/whatever, they'll have skills that easily translate to Linux (though, with the BSD-ish base of Mac OS X, not always directly), Free/Net/OpenBSD, and (less directly) Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, and so forth. Since Microsoft is in its death throes (watch very carefully for the next two years. They are in a world of hurt like they've never imagined), Windows programming will be unnecessary before they are out of college. Okay, maybe not quite that soon, but soon! SooN! My PREcioUS!
And this, IMO, is the basic root of all computer evil.
In every other endeavor I can think of, if I purchase a product that fails to do what it was designed to do, and costs me additional money to repair, or causes harm to me, my family, or my business, I have a recourse in product liability law. It Ford Motor made people sign an End User License Agreement which wholly indemnified Ford from any and all product flaws, including those which were known to the company at the time the product was sold (as do many software EULAs), the whole country would be up in arms and Ford's EULA would have been the death of Ford. Why do we tolerate it from Microsoft?
Yes, I have. Slashdot is a weapon of mass distraction. As are comics.com, Battlefield 1942, Civilization III, Heinlen's Stranger in a Strange Land, and a whole slew of other items. Millions of people are distracted by them every day.
I managed a NetWare 5.x environment with thousands of Macintosh computers, all of which logged into the network. What makes you think that they can't do that?
I would say to incoming freshman that they should take notes by hand, into notebooks or notepads with pencil or pen, and then transcribe them later into whatever kind of computer they are more comfortable with generally.
First, the notes will stick with you longer, and you may actually learn the subject material, by transcribing them later (works best if you do it not too long after class, within a couple of hours, but later that evening is still better than nothing).
Second, it will help you identify deficiencies in your note-taking. If you get to transcribing, and either can't remember what fkx is an abbreviation for, or can't read it at all, you know where to start:)
Third, it will be MUCH easier to study for exams later; this may prove much more useful for law students who are going to try to outline everything anyway, but freshman students may find it useful too. Keep each note session either in a marked section of a master "notes" document, or create a folder in your "notes" folder for each class, and keep each class meeting's notes in a separate document. When it comes time to sit and study the notes for an exam, try to re-arrange them into a logical, end-to-end document covering the stuff your prof wants you to know for the exam. This will help identify gaps in your knowledge of the subject (which you can fill by reviewing the books or other materials), and can really improve both retention and grades on the exam.
If I were going back to school, knowing what I know now, I would carry my Palm to mark down stuff like test, exam, and paper due dates; times & location of classes; names of profs with office hours & other contact info; and so forth, and keep the computer (laptop or desktop) in the apt/dorm/house/tent/whatever, most of the time. I really think the PDA is the best tool for that job. You can keep the contact information in the notebook for the class, but the Palm has alarms:)
I'd like to know whether full de-regulation of the telecommunication industry in the United States has benefited customer service and also what effect it has had on providing innovative services.
So would we Americans.
Telecommunication deregulation in the US has had little impact on the customer service arena, in my experience. When US West was our provider, we called their support services US Worst: they were even worse than phone support for Macintosh users from online banking call centers. Then, they got bought by QWest, and they got even worse.
As for innovative services, I'd say that the dereg has had some positive impact on innovative services: you can buy some DSL connections without the local bell, but only sometimes. It's forced me to abandon my landline phone for cell-only access, which works mostly because cell phone competition is pretty good (probably a positive result of dereg).
... it's not that game creators (and movie scriptwriters, and tv scriptwriters, and etc. ad nauseaum) are not being creative.
Maybe it's that the vast majority of games must sell to subsidize the creative-ish games ( [ movies | tv shows |... } ).
If people didn't want to buy that crap, then it wouldn't sell. The source of blame for the state of affairs in game content lies solely with the buyer. Game companies won't write games that cannot be profitable.
In an era where hard disks cost about a buck a gig and are getting cheaper by the day, how can hosting companies charge $1000 per gigabyte per YEAR?!
The hard disks that cost about a buck per GB are not the disks you would be getting from hosting companies, not if they're doing their jobs right. Large-capacity storage arrays from EMC, HP, and IBM cost in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes millions of dollars, for storage on the order of 20-40 TB. Admittedly, this is high-end storage and likely not storage you get in your colo or local ISP (although, there are some), but even in the mid-range disk storage business high-uptime RAID arrays are not running a buck a GB.
Re:Some corrections about the histroy of x86 UNIX
on
OSI vs SCO
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· Score: 1
Except Minix, which was derived from Unix V 7, the source to which was freely given up by SCO a number of years ago.
Since by every account I have ever come across, Linux was Linus' attempt to make a Minix clone, there can't be any residual IP claim by SCO for Linux.
Re:Please take a stats course
on
OSI vs SCO
·
· Score: 1
Actually, the size of the standard deviation is dependent on sample size. The percentage is not: "[...] a normal distribution will always have approximately 68% of the scores between the scores at +1Sx and -1Sx. This is because, mathematically, 68% of the area under the normal curve falls between +1Sx and -1Sx." (Basic Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, Heiman, Gary, 1992)
The first standard deviation accounts for 34% of the scores above (or below) the mean. The second standard deviation accounts for ~48% of the scores above (or below) the mean. This places something that consists of 3.1% within the third standard deviation away from the mean. This is true regardless of what you are measuring or what the sample size is.
Novell gave the UNIX trademark the the Open Group when it sold the source code to SCO.
Actually, the Open Group (then X/Open) received the trademark in 1993. SCO bought the AT&T source from Novell in 1995.
There have been several posts from people who are upset with what they say is revisionist history from ESR. However, in at least one place on SCO's History page, they revise history to be the first commercial disributor of a web browser (IXI Mosaic). I have a dated invoice from Netscape Corporation for Navigator Gold which predates this offering. Revisionist, indeed.
delmoi, also, apparently is full of shit
on
OSI vs SCO
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· Score: 3, Interesting
This is so much bullshit, you don't need to write twice as much code to do twice as much work.
It was not said that you need to code twice as much; rather, that complexity doubles. This is demonstrably true.
Statistical noise? Yeah, if you were taking a survey with a standard sample size (~1200 samples)
Actually, 3.1% is > 2 standard deviations from the mean regardless of sample size. It's noise, plain and simple.
Actually, no, I don't think that's right. XENIX was SCOs original Unix, and Unixware didn't appear until about 1992. Originally, UnixWare was a product of AT&T, I think. It was sold, along with the rest of AT&T's Unix stuff to Novell. SCO acquired it from Novell in 1995.
Here, let me take you down Hypothetical Scenario lane.
Notoriously Bad Programmers, Inc. (NBPI) creates an application that allows a Linux or Unix machine to publish its disk usage information as an MP3 file, and release it as open source. Some days later, a bug is discovered that has the potential to allow an arbitrary user to edit the MP3 file so that it plays "Dankeschoen" as performed by Wayne Newton, instead of the "Danger, WIll Robinson" clip from Lost In Space. The bug is patched, and it is later discovered that the same bug can be used to print random PDF code to syslog. The first patch solves both problems.
What difference does it make if the second exploit exists if the first patch fixes it? What happens if I create an exploit five years from now, which uses the same bug, that allows me to switch the sample rate on the exported MP3 file from 22 to 44? If you have patched the bug, it is wholly irrelevant what the exploits are. If additional exploits are discovered which uncover different bugs, that's one thing... actually, it's a different issue. There is a responsibility on the part of the open source community, and especially those people who create or modify open source software, to share information about bugs and how to repair them. There is no corresponding responsibility to share information about how to exploit those bugs.
If it's information about the exploits you are after, read the code yourself, and then hack up some exploits. Then, you will know what they are, and you won't need to download the rootkits from various sites around the world, later. You can stop being a kiddie and become '1337 all on your own.
Actually, it's common for there to be exploits that are not generally well known. As long as you are aware of the bug that makes the exploits useful, and are made aware of how to patch ssh to prevent the bug from being exploited, it doesn't matter how many different exploits there are. If you have patched, or taken the advisory's other actions, you won't be affected by techniques that exploit that bug, whether public or not.
"There are absolutely no American troops at the Bagdhad Airport. Tomorrow I will take you to the airport and show you."
Somehow, I get the feeling that this is what Chris Sontag is doing. "Tomorrow we'll have the copied code"... then, code is revealed, which it turns out it was written by many people, none of whom were ever at SCO. "Oh, wait, tomorrow we'll have more code"... then, again, code which SCO doesn't own. "No, really, this time we have it"...
I think you'd probably need to be able to differentiate between RIAA bots and non-RIAA p2p surfers etc. Otherwise, you might end up serving up white noise files to legitimate uses of p2p networks.
Actually, yes. I think you've hit the nail right on the head: one way to combat the stupidities of the RIAA and MPAA, and demonstrate that their arrogance and the DMCA clearly overstep all reasonable boundaries established in the Constitution, is to expose them.
If the RIAA and MPAA are incapable of determining whether a given file is a violation of copyright automatically, then how is it that they expected Napster to do so? How about Verizon? Or any other ISP/University/person? Basically, the RIAA and MPAA get to talk out of both sides of their mouths (do as we say, not as we do?). This we must fight with all of our strength.
Also, be sure to pad your files with random noise, or non-copyrighted things (reading aloud the works of Shakespeare, for example), so that the final file size reasonably approximates the size of the Matrix Reloaded movie on divx, or any given song you want to spoof. That way file size no longer serves as a useful way to determine whether a given file might be a violating file. Of course, this also makes it harder on people who have legitimate reasons to find those files (Matrix Reloaded may not have any legitimate reasons to be on p2p just yet, but I can think of at least two perfectly valid reasons for a person to d/l, say, "Music.mp3" by Madonna over p2p networks).
However, what we (read: us consumers) need is for Apple to succeed, whether this is overpriced low-quality music or not. Based on my last trip to various CD-selling locations (just a few days ago), $12-$14 will not buy you the album from the record store... not in most places, anyway.
If Apple can make a success out of selling on-demand, relatively cheap music to individual consumers, and have some reasonable method to both allow those consumers to exercise their Fair Use rights while cutting down on piracy (even if it is only illusory), then the RIAA loses its most important argument: That online access to music, and swapping of music, costs the industry money. I mean, how true can it be if Apple is making money by lowering prices on music?
At the very least, it strengthens our (read: the anti-RIAA contingent) basic counter-argument to the RIAA: it is the exorbinant price of music, not piracy, that it costing the RIAA member companies money. Lower prices, and albums will sell better.
Maybe you steal, but I only download songs that are on formats I already own, but am either too lazy to rip myself, or the CD, Cassette, or Vinyl album that I bought is damaged, or the cd/tape/album is at home and I'm at work... etc.
Peer to peer sharing of music files is not, in and of itself, a violation of copyright, and neither is downloading those files in and of itself piracy. Owning a hammer does not automatically make one a murder suspect, even though hammers have been used throughout history to commit murders... although, the RIAA (&/or MPAA) would have you believe that merely owning a hammer, or DeCSS, or Kazaa/Morpheus/whatever does, in fact, make you a criminal. Since I didn't elect the RIAA or MPAA, and neither did anyone else in this country, their attempting to create laws on their own is a usurpation of the Constitutional authority given to the Congress and the President. That makes the RIAA and MPAA the issue.
I have a yahoo email account, and a good 90% of spam ends up in the Bulk mail folder, which doesn't seem to count against the mailbox limit. In addition, their "report as spam" seems to work pretty well, though not flawlessly. Excite's, by comparison, seems to be worthless.
Slashdot Mirror
This may not help the junior programmer, but if you own a version of the Palm dev tools from Metrowerks, you can get the current version for $199. I realize that getting _in_ requires a significant layout of capital, but continuing isn't that expensive.
Of course, they used to have the "Discover Programming" series (at least for Win/Mac), something like that might not be too bad for budding PalmOS developer kiddies.
until they release Halo 1 for the Macintosh. Since that was the ONE freaking thing they promised us when that jackass sellout Alex Seropian announced that Microsoft would never tell Bungie what software to make (that sure lasted long, didn't it, you arrogant dickweed? Assimilation is always complete).
Not according to the Old, which proclaims that the Jews are the chosen people of God.
... discovering quarks qualifies as a miracle, in my book), and not in a burning bush. God has stopped screaming, and started whispering, it seems to me.
All the New Testament does is revise this, saying that "whosoever shall believe in me shall not die but have everlasting life." This is nothing more than a questioning of the Old Testament's teachings in light of new evidence. Why stop there?
Can you prove that the light of scientific discovery is not the Voice of God for a new generation? It certainly seems plausible that the miracles being shown to everyday people in the current day and age are inside of science ("whoa, electrons, protons, and neutrons are not the fundamental particles"
many times, many ways ... Get a kid a Mac, today!
It's been mentioned. Linux and Mac OS X both have many similar tools built in, sometimes identical tools. The ADC tools can be had, for free, although I don't know that you can sign up yourself if you are under 18 (never tried, I ain't been 18 in many a moon). Lisp, BASIC, Perl, PHP, C, C++, Objective-C, Java, Python, and just about any other language you can think of are available, most of them natively, and most of them completely for free. With one ~$70 purchase (BBEdit, because syntax coloring is REALLY REALLY helpful, especially when you're just learning) above and beyond the cost of the computer, you've given the child an enormous opportunity to learn programming.
After the child has grown up some with Mac OS X, and has built some automation with AppleScript, Perl/Python/cron/whatever, they'll have skills that easily translate to Linux (though, with the BSD-ish base of Mac OS X, not always directly), Free/Net/OpenBSD, and (less directly) Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, and so forth. Since Microsoft is in its death throes (watch very carefully for the next two years. They are in a world of hurt like they've never imagined), Windows programming will be unnecessary before they are out of college. Okay, maybe not quite that soon, but soon! SooN! My PREcioUS!
And this, IMO, is the basic root of all computer evil.
In every other endeavor I can think of, if I purchase a product that fails to do what it was designed to do, and costs me additional money to repair, or causes harm to me, my family, or my business, I have a recourse in product liability law. It Ford Motor made people sign an End User License Agreement which wholly indemnified Ford from any and all product flaws, including those which were known to the company at the time the product was sold (as do many software EULAs), the whole country would be up in arms and Ford's EULA would have been the death of Ford. Why do we tolerate it from Microsoft?
Yes, I have. Slashdot is a weapon of mass distraction. As are comics.com, Battlefield 1942, Civilization III, Heinlen's Stranger in a Strange Land, and a whole slew of other items. Millions of people are distracted by them every day.
OS X does have client software for Mac OS X and NetWare.
I managed a NetWare 5.x environment with thousands of Macintosh computers, all of which logged into the network. What makes you think that they can't do that?
I would say to incoming freshman that they should take notes by hand, into notebooks or notepads with pencil or pen, and then transcribe them later into whatever kind of computer they are more comfortable with generally.
:)
:)
First, the notes will stick with you longer, and you may actually learn the subject material, by transcribing them later (works best if you do it not too long after class, within a couple of hours, but later that evening is still better than nothing).
Second, it will help you identify deficiencies in your note-taking. If you get to transcribing, and either can't remember what fkx is an abbreviation for, or can't read it at all, you know where to start
Third, it will be MUCH easier to study for exams later; this may prove much more useful for law students who are going to try to outline everything anyway, but freshman students may find it useful too. Keep each note session either in a marked section of a master "notes" document, or create a folder in your "notes" folder for each class, and keep each class meeting's notes in a separate document. When it comes time to sit and study the notes for an exam, try to re-arrange them into a logical, end-to-end document covering the stuff your prof wants you to know for the exam. This will help identify gaps in your knowledge of the subject (which you can fill by reviewing the books or other materials), and can really improve both retention and grades on the exam.
If I were going back to school, knowing what I know now, I would carry my Palm to mark down stuff like test, exam, and paper due dates; times & location of classes; names of profs with office hours & other contact info; and so forth, and keep the computer (laptop or desktop) in the apt/dorm/house/tent/whatever, most of the time. I really think the PDA is the best tool for that job. You can keep the contact information in the notebook for the class, but the Palm has alarms
Telecommunication deregulation in the US has had little impact on the customer service arena, in my experience. When US West was our provider, we called their support services US Worst: they were even worse than phone support for Macintosh users from online banking call centers. Then, they got bought by QWest, and they got even worse.
As for innovative services, I'd say that the dereg has had some positive impact on innovative services: you can buy some DSL connections without the local bell, but only sometimes. It's forced me to abandon my landline phone for cell-only access, which works mostly because cell phone competition is pretty good (probably a positive result of dereg).
... it's not that game creators (and movie scriptwriters, and tv scriptwriters, and etc. ad nauseaum) are not being creative.
... } ).
Maybe it's that the vast majority of games must sell to subsidize the creative-ish games ( [ movies | tv shows |
If people didn't want to buy that crap, then it wouldn't sell. The source of blame for the state of affairs in game content lies solely with the buyer. Game companies won't write games that cannot be profitable.
In an era where hard disks cost about a buck a gig and are getting cheaper by the day, how can hosting companies charge $1000 per gigabyte per YEAR?!
The hard disks that cost about a buck per GB are not the disks you would be getting from hosting companies, not if they're doing their jobs right. Large-capacity storage arrays from EMC, HP, and IBM cost in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes millions of dollars, for storage on the order of 20-40 TB. Admittedly, this is high-end storage and likely not storage you get in your colo or local ISP (although, there are some), but even in the mid-range disk storage business high-uptime RAID arrays are not running a buck a GB.
Except Minix, which was derived from Unix V 7, the source to which was freely given up by SCO a number of years ago.
Since by every account I have ever come across, Linux was Linus' attempt to make a Minix clone, there can't be any residual IP claim by SCO for Linux.
Actually, the size of the standard deviation is dependent on sample size. The percentage is not: "[...] a normal distribution will always have approximately 68% of the scores between the scores at +1Sx and -1Sx. This is because, mathematically, 68% of the area under the normal curve falls between +1Sx and -1Sx." (Basic Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, Heiman, Gary, 1992)
The first standard deviation accounts for 34% of the scores above (or below) the mean. The second standard deviation accounts for ~48% of the scores above (or below) the mean. This places something that consists of 3.1% within the third standard deviation away from the mean. This is true regardless of what you are measuring or what the sample size is.
Novell gave the UNIX trademark the the Open Group when it sold the source code to SCO.
Actually, the Open Group (then X/Open) received the trademark in 1993. SCO bought the AT&T source from Novell in 1995.
There have been several posts from people who are upset with what they say is revisionist history from ESR. However, in at least one place on SCO's History page, they revise history to be the first commercial disributor of a web browser (IXI Mosaic). I have a dated invoice from Netscape Corporation for Navigator Gold which predates this offering. Revisionist, indeed.
This is so much bullshit, you don't need to write twice as much code to do twice as much work.
It was not said that you need to code twice as much; rather, that complexity doubles. This is demonstrably true.
Statistical noise? Yeah, if you were taking a survey with a standard sample size (~1200 samples) Actually, 3.1% is > 2 standard deviations from the mean regardless of sample size. It's noise, plain and simple.
Actually, no, I don't think that's right. XENIX was SCOs original Unix, and Unixware didn't appear until about 1992. Originally, UnixWare was a product of AT&T, I think. It was sold, along with the rest of AT&T's Unix stuff to Novell. SCO acquired it from Novell in 1995.
Here, let me take you down Hypothetical Scenario lane.
... actually, it's a different issue. There is a responsibility on the part of the open source community, and especially those people who create or modify open source software, to share information about bugs and how to repair them. There is no corresponding responsibility to share information about how to exploit those bugs.
Notoriously Bad Programmers, Inc. (NBPI) creates an application that allows a Linux or Unix machine to publish its disk usage information as an MP3 file, and release it as open source. Some days later, a bug is discovered that has the potential to allow an arbitrary user to edit the MP3 file so that it plays "Dankeschoen" as performed by Wayne Newton, instead of the "Danger, WIll Robinson" clip from Lost In Space. The bug is patched, and it is later discovered that the same bug can be used to print random PDF code to syslog. The first patch solves both problems.
What difference does it make if the second exploit exists if the first patch fixes it? What happens if I create an exploit five years from now, which uses the same bug, that allows me to switch the sample rate on the exported MP3 file from 22 to 44? If you have patched the bug, it is wholly irrelevant what the exploits are. If additional exploits are discovered which uncover different bugs, that's one thing
If it's information about the exploits you are after, read the code yourself, and then hack up some exploits. Then, you will know what they are, and you won't need to download the rootkits from various sites around the world, later. You can stop being a kiddie and become '1337 all on your own.
Actually, it's common for there to be exploits that are not generally well known. As long as you are aware of the bug that makes the exploits useful, and are made aware of how to patch ssh to prevent the bug from being exploited, it doesn't matter how many different exploits there are. If you have patched, or taken the advisory's other actions, you won't be affected by techniques that exploit that bug, whether public or not.
"There are absolutely no American troops at the Bagdhad Airport. Tomorrow I will take you to the airport and show you."
... then, code is revealed, which it turns out it was written by many people, none of whom were ever at SCO. "Oh, wait, tomorrow we'll have more code" ... then, again, code which SCO doesn't own. "No, really, this time we have it" ...
Somehow, I get the feeling that this is what Chris Sontag is doing. "Tomorrow we'll have the copied code"
I think you'd probably need to be able to differentiate between RIAA bots and non-RIAA p2p surfers etc. Otherwise, you might end up serving up white noise files to legitimate uses of p2p networks.
Actually, yes. I think you've hit the nail right on the head: one way to combat the stupidities of the RIAA and MPAA, and demonstrate that their arrogance and the DMCA clearly overstep all reasonable boundaries established in the Constitution, is to expose them.
If the RIAA and MPAA are incapable of determining whether a given file is a violation of copyright automatically, then how is it that they expected Napster to do so? How about Verizon? Or any other ISP/University/person? Basically, the RIAA and MPAA get to talk out of both sides of their mouths (do as we say, not as we do?). This we must fight with all of our strength.
Also, be sure to pad your files with random noise, or non-copyrighted things (reading aloud the works of Shakespeare, for example), so that the final file size reasonably approximates the size of the Matrix Reloaded movie on divx, or any given song you want to spoof. That way file size no longer serves as a useful way to determine whether a given file might be a violating file. Of course, this also makes it harder on people who have legitimate reasons to find those files (Matrix Reloaded may not have any legitimate reasons to be on p2p just yet, but I can think of at least two perfectly valid reasons for a person to d/l, say, "Music.mp3" by Madonna over p2p networks).
Generally, I'm inclined to agree with you.
... not in most places, anyway.
However, what we (read: us consumers) need is for Apple to succeed, whether this is overpriced low-quality music or not. Based on my last trip to various CD-selling locations (just a few days ago), $12-$14 will not buy you the album from the record store
If Apple can make a success out of selling on-demand, relatively cheap music to individual consumers, and have some reasonable method to both allow those consumers to exercise their Fair Use rights while cutting down on piracy (even if it is only illusory), then the RIAA loses its most important argument: That online access to music, and swapping of music, costs the industry money. I mean, how true can it be if Apple is making money by lowering prices on music?
At the very least, it strengthens our (read: the anti-RIAA contingent) basic counter-argument to the RIAA: it is the exorbinant price of music, not piracy, that it costing the RIAA member companies money. Lower prices, and albums will sell better.
Maybe you steal, but I only download songs that are on formats I already own, but am either too lazy to rip myself, or the CD, Cassette, or Vinyl album that I bought is damaged, or the cd/tape/album is at home and I'm at work ... etc.
... although, the RIAA (&/or MPAA) would have you believe that merely owning a hammer, or DeCSS, or Kazaa/Morpheus/whatever does, in fact, make you a criminal. Since I didn't elect the RIAA or MPAA, and neither did anyone else in this country, their attempting to create laws on their own is a usurpation of the Constitutional authority given to the Congress and the President. That makes the RIAA and MPAA the issue.
Peer to peer sharing of music files is not, in and of itself, a violation of copyright, and neither is downloading those files in and of itself piracy. Owning a hammer does not automatically make one a murder suspect, even though hammers have been used throughout history to commit murders
I have a yahoo email account, and a good 90% of spam ends up in the Bulk mail folder, which doesn't seem to count against the mailbox limit. In addition, their "report as spam" seems to work pretty well, though not flawlessly. Excite's, by comparison, seems to be worthless.
*shrug*