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User: Queer+Boy

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  1. Re:Since when is proprietary DRM tolerated? on Congress Ponders Opening up iTunes DRM · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Napster isn't being altruistic by any means, they're just trying to loosen Apple's choke hold on online music.

    Apple has no choke hold. It was not the first and it is not the only online music store. By popular vote it is the best. iPod is not the first and is not the only digital music player. By popular vote it is the best.

    Apple did not finagle their way into what they have right now, they earned it fair and square by making a great product and doing what people wanted. They have no secret deals they made no shady collusions. I think people are so used to Microsoft's game that they think everyone plays that way.

  2. Re:This is just hype. on PSP Hacks and the Mainstream · · Score: 1
    I *wish* very strongly to write for the platform that way you would a pda. It screams for it.

    Yes, because all the best PDA's lack a touchscreen or means of input. What screams for PDA functionality is the Nintendo DS..

  3. Re:Trouble Brewing? on PSP Hacks and the Mainstream · · Score: 1
    In other words, the only problem I forsee Sony having with the "hacks" so far is the multigame "hack" (allowing multiple people to play a wireless game with only one copy of the game).

    This has been an implicit advantage that Nintendo used to hype the capabilities of the Gameboy Advance (only wired). There is enough RAM onboard to load smaller games and the speed of the connection is fast enough to transfer them. Of course not a lot of games use it but it is cool.

  4. Re:openness, competition on Congress Ponders Opening up iTunes DRM · · Score: 2, Insightful
    It is a standard when a majority of mp3 players being sold use it

    The majority of the digital music players being sold DON'T use FairPlay. The majority of the digital music players being BOUGHT is what uses it.

    As a result, nobody but Apple can legally sell music for it

    Uh, no, first off, Audible also sells content for it, as well as AllofMP3 to name a couple. And when did they stop selling CDs?

    There is nothing about the iPod that mandates anyone use DRM. That's an artificial argument you've created.

  5. Re:Improved Palm support would be nice on 10.4 on Display at FOSE · · Score: 1
    do you suppose Apple could get their iSync Palm Conduit to work a little better?

    The iSync conduit's issues are mainly due to Palm's continual lack of interest in the Mac. I read on Apple's site that the limitations of Apple's conduit are based on HotSync manager.

    I have quite a few Mac friends who are switching from Palm OS to PocketPC with The Missing Sync

  6. Top rated? on Aussie TV Networks Fight BitTorrent · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Are we talking about top-rated shows here in the US or in Australia? The US-centric view that Aussies are clamoring for TV shows that aren't even a season old here sounds ridiculous.

    My limited knowledge of Australian TV has shown me that Aussies prefer BBC programmes over what's showing in the US.

  7. Re:Accepting demands on Microsoft Accepts Most EU Demands, But Not Over Source · · Score: 1
    MS would threaten it, maybe stop selling Windows in Europe for a few weeks, then both sides would panic and split the difference.

    How would Europe panic? Because people would actually have to look at an alternative to Windows? The big outlets would start pushing the Macs and installing Linux on all the PCs. I doubt it would affect business as much as you think.

    No one but Microsoft makes money off of selling Windows.

  8. Re:The article says "accepts"... on Microsoft Accepts Most EU Demands, But Not Over Source · · Score: 2, Insightful
    IBM walked away from the India market this way in the 1960's

    Yes but India in the 60's, where there was no such thing as a personal computer and maybe an office had ONE computer, compared to today where everyone has at least one computer at home and every office has more computers than employees.

    The EU is not like the US, this is a group of COUNTRIES not a group of states. There is going to be an interesting outcome from this to be sure and I doubt it will favour Microsoft.

    Europe doesn't have only one choice when it comes to computing but Microsoft only has one choice when it comes to Europe.

  9. Re:Who pays for the copper? on FCC Rules Telcos Need Not Provide Naked DSL · · Score: 1
    DSL simply doesn't make economic sense without attached landline phone service.

    That's funny because cable companies think otherwise. Did you know that cable companies actually have to put a physical device on the line to stop the analog cable TV signal from coming through when you have naked Broadband?

    Seems like an especially steep cost to cable companies because the wiring is most definitely not there to begin with.

    I wonder why it is good economic sense for a cable company but not for a phone company (who already definitely has the line there).

  10. Re:Bundling always seemed bad to me on FCC Rules Telcos Need Not Provide Naked DSL · · Score: 1
    I'd prefer not to waste my money on the 50 garbage channels and just pay for the several I actually watch. However, I have to pay for packages instead of an al la carte scheme.

    In the US we call that Satellite.

  11. Looks like Linux running OpenTracker on BeOS Ready for a Comeback as Zeta OS · · Score: 1
    Um, notice how the Tracker and DeskBar interface doesn't change? That's suspicious to me.

    Every shot of BeOS had the DeskBar and Tracker displayed in multiple ways, you'd think they'd want to show this off.

    Plus Palm owns BeOS.

  12. Re:Hee hah! on BeOS Ready for a Comeback as Zeta OS · · Score: 1
    Sure, pay $100 for an OS that does not run the latest Windows applications, hardly has any applications it runs natively, has limited driver support, and it is an effort to revive an OS that already killed at least one other company. How can you go wrong?

    Apparently you can't.

  13. Re:For those who know... on BeOS Ready for a Comeback as Zeta OS · · Score: 5, Informative
    Which would have been technically better as Apple's new OS

    In my opinion (I've used Macs since 97 and used BeOS since the first release) I would rather have seen BeOS with the Aqua makeover. BeOS was VERY close to being like a UNIX, it tried to copy all the good stuff but left out the bad stuff.

    I don't know how well it worked in a technical sense but it let you load and unload drivers and extensions just by moving them in and out of a folder (never reboot!). It also let you load extensions and drivers for the machine, or just the user (it was never multiuser but was designed with this in mind for the future).

    On a 240 MHz 603e I was able to rotate a 3D cube playing QuickTime movies on all 6 sides (compressed with the "video" setting). Without GPU support. BeOS was like the new Amiga, it was amazing and would have been something truly phenomenal had it come out AFTER the DOJ trial against MS.

  14. Re:Well, yeah... on BeOS Ready for a Comeback as Zeta OS · · Score: 5, Interesting
    In any event, at least seeing that your computer is almost there is a psychological relief. Sort of like 2 minutes of commercials is usually better than seeing 2 minutes of black screen.

    I call this the Disney effect. If you've ever been to a Disney theme park you typically wait about 20 minutes to get on a ride (excluding the "mountains") however they break the line up and never let you see the whole thing as well as have little pitstops of entertainment before you get on the actual ride.

    I've always thought it was brilliant and was reminded of it the first time I saw Windows 2000 boot (it goes through 3 stages, NT text, then the splash, then the screen before login).

  15. Re:OS XI on Mac OS X Tiger Goes Gold · · Score: 1
    Will apple ever upgarde the name to mac OS 11? I know that apple OS X name is pretty much like microsoft windows, but hasn't there been enough upgrades to warrent the version name upgrade

    UNIX systems typically do not change their upgrade numbering very often, even when there is a platform shift (witness IRIX).

    Point releases with point point patches is very common in UNIX.

  16. Re:Yeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!! on Mac OS X Tiger Goes Gold · · Score: 1
    like in Dashboard there's a language translator that translates your words as you're typing

    That feature has been available in Sherlock except that Sherlock is dog slow (I have a Dual 2 GHz). It even uses Systran.

  17. Re:They can't go on like this, can they? on Mac OS X Tiger Goes Gold · · Score: 2, Informative
    And how many big cats are left?

    Apple has registered the trademarks for Lynx, Cougar and Leopard.

  18. Re:First line of the article on Inside the PSP · · Score: 1
    The real proof will be in the demographic numbers. If Sony hits a big market beyond kids then it will be a redefining product by definition.

    Because everyone knows only kids have Gameboys. All ~200 million of them.

  19. Re:Author is on crack on Return of the Mac · · Score: 1

    Windows -- dropout
    Macintosh -- 2 dropouts

  20. Re:great hardware on Return of the Mac · · Score: 1
    Linux also runs on x86-based systems, and that's where most of the development is focused.

    Not anymore.

  21. Re:Let the flame war commence! on Return of the Mac · · Score: 1
    I'm sure the *BSD crowd would chime in too, except that a judge recently orderd the feeding tube to be removed.

    Darwin is based on FreeBSD 5. Marketing AND technical links. BSD has died and gone to Apple.

  22. Re:Captain Obvious Strikes Again on Return of the Mac · · Score: 1
    If you complain about MS being insecure, then why do I have no problems with either of my MS machines that are always on and virus and spyware free? In addition, they're never rebooted...ever!

    So you never install the MS patches?

  23. Re:What amazes me most on Return of the Mac · · Score: 1
    10K engineers? Crap, I should think not. What a disaster that would be - kinda like windows (OK, I'm trolling).

    Let's see - supposing that NS happened in '85, that's 20 years (holy crap, I'm getting old). To have had 10K different engineers working on it over it's whole lifespan, it'd have to flip 500/year.

    Except that a huge chunk of OS X (and NextStep) is Open Source software. Does the 10k programmers seem unreasonable now?

  24. Re:Advertising on What's Next At Apple · · Score: 1
    I don't get it. They have the greatest consumer-level desktop environment in the world, but they're not pushing it at all. It's as if they're relying solely on word-of-mouth advertising.

    Apple spent 20 years trying to tell people how great the Mac OS was. It's old hat. No one needs to be told anymore what Macs are like. I had a friend who recently upgraded to a new laptop. His old one was ancient. He knew all the things I did on my computer. He got another PC and constantly asks me how he can do what I am doing (in a port of the same app). I have to tell him he has to buy a Mac. The functionality just isn't there in the PC version because it's built into Mac OS X.

    If Apple were to do anything it should be to have commercials about the iLife applications like they did with iPhoto. They are very big into music right now but I have never once seen a Garageband commercial. Make your own iTunes, it's brilliant.

    People don't care how great the OS is, CLEARLY. Most people are using Windows.

  25. Re:Personally... on What's Next At Apple · · Score: 5, Insightful
    A video iPod is completely plausible, especially if they bundle the xVid codec or some licensed variant of VLC with it

    Dude, have you not ever heard of QuickTime? Your statement makes zero sense in the scheme of things.

    If people want to watch TV shows so bad on the go, why haven't pocket TVs been more popular?