Let me qualify my own post here. I'll even redefine success in terms of money. Sega Japan was heavily in the red, not just because of the Dreamcast. Sega USA was healthily in the black when the plug was pulled on the Dreamcast. I don't know about Sega Europe.
What's obnoxious and stupid about comparisons and articles like this is that the Dreamcast didn't fail that badly in the US. In fact, the Dreamcast was still very much in the market in the US when it was declared to be killed off. It failed in Japan quite spectacularly, but the US market remained robust.
Since when was the success of a nation measured solely in GDP? What about the well-being of the citizenry? How can the entire EU be defined in terms of GDP-growth? Look as how the economic development of the US has slowed in comparison to other parts of the world. We're losing labor to outsourcing because other countries are finally able to enter the world market and are starting out cheaply, but because corporate finances are based around stocks, CEOs and upper execs, and hiding money in off-shore account the growth of Microsoft will continue to hide the bleeding wound in the US: the wound of the lost American worker.
What with so many state-mandated "vice" taxes covering alcohol and tobacco sales, I think a porn tax would be just fine. Generate extra state revenue for the purchase of completely non-essential goods. Since access to porn, just like with alcohol and tobacco, is age-limited, it makes an excellent target for taxes because, like the other items, it exists in the same space as a luxury tax of sorts.
As to whether this will limit access, I don't know. If it's a percentage tax it won't affect free porn, because a percent of free is still free. And most on-line vendors will then start putting more than just porn on their site and Adult Pass or whatever will become a general access pass to all sorts of things, and most of it will just happen to be free, but pass-restricted, porn.
Maybe someday public opinion will swing back to holding parents responsible for their own children. "Protecting" children is a dubious goal at best in today's political climate, particularly given the means and the subjects of this "protection," but we must persevere and make sure we retain our basic liberties.
Good luck democrats and republicans both. I will strive to oppose you at every turn on these issues.
"Also try asking people that already have the position what they do and decide if you would like doing what they do"
Gee, that kinda looks like what he's trying to do, in a slightly more abstract sense. He IS fresh out of school, he says. He probably doesn't have many connections and more experienced peers to look to. I think it's a perfectly appropriate question for Slashdot because there are lots of professionals here who can tell him about what they do.
"Then grow some balls and make a damn decision by yourself."
What, without information? Let's have a leap of faith. But wait, you painted a path to this decision in your post. It involved querying others who do that kind of work. Thus he turned up here.
If you're so pissy about/. lately and the Ask Slashdot threads, post an Ask Slashdot about it. I mean, Ask Slashdot, in my mind, is all about getting information from peers and other professionals. If it isn't that just what on earth is it good for?
In my experience with Novell eDirectory and Microsoft ADS, it's a good thing they chose Novell, particularly for an operation of their size. This is also good news for Novell. Here's hoping Novell can make this all work well enough that nobody's left gun-shy afterwards.
I should also note that said posts tend to refer to all the markets Immersion serves with their technologies, etc... blah blah blah
Sure, some people like Immersion and are standing up for them. Some people are taking Immersion's side and making sense. But there's still always that ONE post that sounds more like an advertisement.
Immersion's sneaky PR campaign (suspected but not
on
PlayStation Sales Halted?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Wow, I suspect Immersion is doing some anonymous "advertising," because on every major site that discusses this verdict there's always a post from a user who's only ever made one post that's very well-worded and praises Immersion from on high about their sensitive vibration technology.
Immersion technology may well be a darned cool thing, but this kind of pandering is absolutely sickening. Its just like the whole Microsoft "grass roots" campain from a few years ago, where all the letters sent were penned, essentially, by Microsoft.
*sigh* If Immersion's so darned paranoid about the hostile feelings this case is sowing against them why don't they do a little PROPER PR instead of having lackies post in forums like these. Shouldn't those posts they've seeded contain official disclaimers or something?
The generality to which I refer has little to do with the details. Have you ever had any trouble seeing the forest for the trees? The point I'm trying to make does not concern itself with the semantics of the GPL vs standard copyright (which has been misused to prevent not just copying, but use, something the GPL doesn't restrict, I know).
The point is that entities with power and influence not only attempt to have the law crafted to favor them, and then wield it against those with little power to secure their base, but they also have a certain disregard for the law because they have power, and when you are violating the little guy, what's he going to do?
The music and movie industries you have companies wielding laws heavily tilted in their favor as cudgels against the relatively powerless masses. They have the money and influence to not only create laws but to enforce them vigorously. In technology fields you have large companies violating the GPL to distribute products in not-compliant ways, in part because the opposition responsible for attempting to uphold the GPL has far less influence and money to bring against them.
In summary, my original comments were meant more to be about misuse/abuse of power and not so much about what you seem to think it was about.
I would argue that there's still a parallel. Restricted use, restricted distribution, regardless, there's a limitation with the possibility of constraint. It may have been a baited trap, but there's still a general issue there.
But you do make a good point that we should all keep in mind.
To the best of my knowledge, people who shout for enforcement of the GPL demand it be enforced against companies, entities with an embedded power base. Whereas piracy (as we most frequently discuss it here at/.) is generally an individual defying the copyrights of a large corporation, GPL violations are usually cases of large corporations violating groups of individuals.
Now, if you ask us if we are against piracy, I think most of us will say we are against companies profiting by copying the music of another company illegally. Buying a CD in a store that turns out to be a pirate CD can be a pain in the ass. But as for individuals enacting a measure of protest against the music industry, many of us tend to view that differently.
So it all boils down to power. GPL violations are bad because those with power are taking advantage of those with less power. Pirating music often embodies the same split. It's about finding some weapon against a powerful entity who's interests have taken priority over the interests of the common citizen in current law.
Jack Thompson is a man who really gets my goat. He is so certain that violent video games are incubators for violent offenders. The fact that not one of these studies that notes a correlation can at all prove causation seems to not phase him a bit. He plays so fast and loose with "data" and "studies" that you have to wonder if the scientific method holds any place in this man's stone heart.
What kind of society will we build when we cannot hold people responsible for their own actions? It is not my fault! The game made me do it! I have been playing video games for years and years and none of that has made me violent. In fact, I'm a pacifist, all because of the influence of a single friend.
Jack Thompson wants video games hogtied because violent offenders might possibly have a predilection for the video forms of their existing tendencies, yet in my life it is the individuals I meet that have the most profound influences on me. Why not disallow contact between violent felons and their children and other members of society for all of eternity? They have a far stronger influence on those around them than any video games. But to do so would violate so many human rights.
Bah, enough ranting. This man must be stopped. At all costs, he must be stopped.
Wow, some of you are pretty harsh. I can't speak for the poster who originated this particular thread, but I can speak for my original post derived from it. I don't necessarily want the US to be "like" other countries. I just want the US to be a better place to live. I want the US to improve itself to better meet my needs, and to better meet the needs I perceive this nation to have. It's a selfish focus, yes, but at the same time, who among us cannot claim to be somewhat self-motivated?
Besides that, there are certain relatively undisputed components, here. In much of the US, spending on education is low and so is the quality of educational instruction (pre-college, that is). Does putting more money into education and rethinking our educational system mean that it's going to end up just like Europe's system, or whoever else's system? No. It doesn't have to mean that.
We can use the positive qualities of other nations and alter those modes to match out needs without simply copycatting. The US has shown itself, as a nation, capable of integrating and personalizing information as it relates to politics and society. In recent years I feel we, as a nation, have become very lax and too easily influenced by powerful and organized minority groups, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should just clam up and get the hell out. It means we need to work harder to point out our shortcoming and then do the voting and debating and work necessary to try and shore up those shortcomings.
And the end result, whatever it may be, will be uniquely American, and hopefully an improvement over what we are now.
"Love it or Leave it" is one of the most retarded and unhelpful (not to mention inappropriate) responses to criticisms of the US. My friends and family all live in the US. I want good things for them and for the US. Sure, there are much better places to live, but what I have, in terms of both stuff and people, is all here.
By quoting statistics and data that show the US is failing to achieve, people are hoping to spread awareness and interest in the hopes that people can and will work hard to change the US.
The US now is a superpower with nowhere to go but down, and we will fall, and continue to fall, unless we take the bold steps necessary to change our ways. Only through criticism and willingess to force change will we ever become the nation we think we are instead of the nation we really are.
Because Helpdesk/Support/IT services are expensive, people always want to cut them, or downsize them, or whatever. But the bottom line is you get what you pay for. Pay only peanuts and all you'll get are trained monkeys.
Modern business has decided, for whatever reason, that it needs computers. Well, if they intend to use computers they need to support them and keep them going. The company that cuts too many costs may find they'll lose more in the long run because stuff just doesn't work any longer. The only way to truly cut costs is to hire competent people, compensate them fairly, and make sure they have what they need to do their jobs. When you remove any of these elements you more than make up the costs by losing money elsewhere.
Though the article makes it out to be, it isn't original. The author nowhere points out that he was at all influenced by Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move, an arcade game by Taito that came out in '94 on the Neo Geo hardware, predating Snood by roughly 2 years. It had a cannon at the bottom and fired up colored balls at rows of said balls above, which eliminate when matched in 3s or more.
I think it's all well and good doing a clone game. I've played, loved, and respected many tetris clones over the years. I would say it's possible he came up with Snood without having every seen or played Puzzle Bobble, but I just don't buy it. There are too many similarities.
So does anyone know of any other articles posted elsewhere that confess that Snood is essentially clone?
Here's something that MIGHT apply. I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on this. Seems to refer to audio recordings primarily, with a section for computer programs, but still, it could be inerpreted broadly, beyond physical mediums.
I am not absolutely certain, but I believe the music industry's business is codified in law on some level. While certain aspects of the "sale" of music on one medium or another are understood I do believe that, at least on some level, the business does have a legal standing.
If you want to view it from the view of copyright, which is what you have to do, licensing isn't as complicated at it seems. The copyright holder (music company) grants you the right to have this copy (CD, tape, LP, go back as far as you want) of the recorded material. You are not granted the right to have any a DIFFERENT copy of the music, just the one for which you paid money. Should you damage the original, too bad, that's the only copy you are allowed.
Your DRM point is an interesting one, however. You are allowed to have one copy, that particular copy. That much remains the same. But does the doctrine of first sale apply to the sale of granted copy rights? Does existing law cover the right to transfer the right to a copy of something which is copyrighted? Used books have not been deemed illegal.
At the same time, they may be limited to the original medium, being the medium of the playback device, but I'm not sure that would be simple enough to easily predict results. Can the playback device ALSO be the medium itself without a separate contract to which you must agree?
You are paying for conditional license to listen to that particular recording of the music from said approved medium/media in private/personal settings.
They do not have to provide infinite anything. Would you like them to include a detailed license agreement as with software, shrinkwrap-style?
Windows on a PPC platform would create an interesting conundrum. The programs on x86 Windows would have to be, at the very least, recompiled for PPC hardware. For once, Mac users (of whom I am one from time to time) could finally claim that all the software was designed for the Mac OS, as none of the existing Windows software would actually work on this Windows on PPC OS.
Because combining Virtual PC with a souped up WinNT on PPC core wouldn't really be any better than VPC with OS X.
I second this recommendation for Canon. I did some research a couple years ago along this line.
HP and Lexmark have print heads included in the ink cartridges. This means you always have a fresh print head, but it also means you pay more. And Lexmark and HP are the two worst companies about ink technology and lockouts.
Epson has the print heads in the printer itself, but they can only be replaced by Epson techs and cost quite a bit.
Canon printers are a little cheaper than the others, with cheaper ink as well, and the print heads, though in the printer, should be user replaceable AND relatively affordable. Now, though nice, Canon inkjet printers tend to be a little less cutting edge than the competition, but they're still excellent all around and should prove to be the most affordable solution.
In Tennessee the official term is "Right to hire, right to fire." Employers can hire anyone they want and fire them for any non-federally-prohibited reason with little to no notice. Seems to have little positive influence for your average worker.
Well, since OS X has such great Java support, either natively or via a web browser (also native, but different interface, y'know?), are there any JAVA ANSI terminal emulators/telnet interfaces that could either be opened directly or as an applet in Safari or whatnot?
Slashdot Mirror
Let me qualify my own post here. I'll even redefine success in terms of money. Sega Japan was heavily in the red, not just because of the Dreamcast. Sega USA was healthily in the black when the plug was pulled on the Dreamcast. I don't know about Sega Europe.
What's obnoxious and stupid about comparisons and articles like this is that the Dreamcast didn't fail that badly in the US. In fact, the Dreamcast was still very much in the market in the US when it was declared to be killed off. It failed in Japan quite spectacularly, but the US market remained robust.
Since when was the success of a nation measured solely in GDP? What about the well-being of the citizenry? How can the entire EU be defined in terms of GDP-growth? Look as how the economic development of the US has slowed in comparison to other parts of the world. We're losing labor to outsourcing because other countries are finally able to enter the world market and are starting out cheaply, but because corporate finances are based around stocks, CEOs and upper execs, and hiding money in off-shore account the growth of Microsoft will continue to hide the bleeding wound in the US: the wound of the lost American worker.
What with so many state-mandated "vice" taxes covering alcohol and tobacco sales, I think a porn tax would be just fine. Generate extra state revenue for the purchase of completely non-essential goods. Since access to porn, just like with alcohol and tobacco, is age-limited, it makes an excellent target for taxes because, like the other items, it exists in the same space as a luxury tax of sorts.
As to whether this will limit access, I don't know. If it's a percentage tax it won't affect free porn, because a percent of free is still free. And most on-line vendors will then start putting more than just porn on their site and Adult Pass or whatever will become a general access pass to all sorts of things, and most of it will just happen to be free, but pass-restricted, porn.
Maybe someday public opinion will swing back to holding parents responsible for their own children. "Protecting" children is a dubious goal at best in today's political climate, particularly given the means and the subjects of this "protection," but we must persevere and make sure we retain our basic liberties.
Good luck democrats and republicans both. I will strive to oppose you at every turn on these issues.
"Also try asking people that already have the position what they do and decide if you would like doing what they do"
/. lately and the Ask Slashdot threads, post an Ask Slashdot about it. I mean, Ask Slashdot, in my mind, is all about getting information from peers and other professionals. If it isn't that just what on earth is it good for?
Gee, that kinda looks like what he's trying to do, in a slightly more abstract sense. He IS fresh out of school, he says. He probably doesn't have many connections and more experienced peers to look to. I think it's a perfectly appropriate question for Slashdot because there are lots of professionals here who can tell him about what they do.
"Then grow some balls and make a damn decision by yourself."
What, without information? Let's have a leap of faith. But wait, you painted a path to this decision in your post. It involved querying others who do that kind of work. Thus he turned up here.
If you're so pissy about
In my experience with Novell eDirectory and Microsoft ADS, it's a good thing they chose Novell, particularly for an operation of their size. This is also good news for Novell. Here's hoping Novell can make this all work well enough that nobody's left gun-shy afterwards.
Yeah, just like that. That's exactly my point.
I should also note that said posts tend to refer to all the markets Immersion serves with their technologies, etc... blah blah blah
Sure, some people like Immersion and are standing up for them. Some people are taking Immersion's side and making sense. But there's still always that ONE post that sounds more like an advertisement.
Wow, I suspect Immersion is doing some anonymous "advertising," because on every major site that discusses this verdict there's always a post from a user who's only ever made one post that's very well-worded and praises Immersion from on high about their sensitive vibration technology.
Immersion technology may well be a darned cool thing, but this kind of pandering is absolutely sickening. Its just like the whole Microsoft "grass roots" campain from a few years ago, where all the letters sent were penned, essentially, by Microsoft.
*sigh* If Immersion's so darned paranoid about the hostile feelings this case is sowing against them why don't they do a little PROPER PR instead of having lackies post in forums like these. Shouldn't those posts they've seeded contain official disclaimers or something?
The generality to which I refer has little to do with the details. Have you ever had any trouble seeing the forest for the trees? The point I'm trying to make does not concern itself with the semantics of the GPL vs standard copyright (which has been misused to prevent not just copying, but use, something the GPL doesn't restrict, I know).
The point is that entities with power and influence not only attempt to have the law crafted to favor them, and then wield it against those with little power to secure their base, but they also have a certain disregard for the law because they have power, and when you are violating the little guy, what's he going to do?
The music and movie industries you have companies wielding laws heavily tilted in their favor as cudgels against the relatively powerless masses. They have the money and influence to not only create laws but to enforce them vigorously. In technology fields you have large companies violating the GPL to distribute products in not-compliant ways, in part because the opposition responsible for attempting to uphold the GPL has far less influence and money to bring against them.
In summary, my original comments were meant more to be about misuse/abuse of power and not so much about what you seem to think it was about.
I would argue that there's still a parallel. Restricted use, restricted distribution, regardless, there's a limitation with the possibility of constraint. It may have been a baited trap, but there's still a general issue there.
But you do make a good point that we should all keep in mind.
To the best of my knowledge, people who shout for enforcement of the GPL demand it be enforced against companies, entities with an embedded power base. Whereas piracy (as we most frequently discuss it here at /.) is generally an individual defying the copyrights of a large corporation, GPL violations are usually cases of large corporations violating groups of individuals.
Now, if you ask us if we are against piracy, I think most of us will say we are against companies profiting by copying the music of another company illegally. Buying a CD in a store that turns out to be a pirate CD can be a pain in the ass. But as for individuals enacting a measure of protest against the music industry, many of us tend to view that differently.
So it all boils down to power. GPL violations are bad because those with power are taking advantage of those with less power. Pirating music often embodies the same split. It's about finding some weapon against a powerful entity who's interests have taken priority over the interests of the common citizen in current law.
Jack Thompson is a man who really gets my goat. He is so certain that violent video games are incubators for violent offenders. The fact that not one of these studies that notes a correlation can at all prove causation seems to not phase him a bit. He plays so fast and loose with "data" and "studies" that you have to wonder if the scientific method holds any place in this man's stone heart.
What kind of society will we build when we cannot hold people responsible for their own actions? It is not my fault! The game made me do it! I have been playing video games for years and years and none of that has made me violent. In fact, I'm a pacifist, all because of the influence of a single friend.
Jack Thompson wants video games hogtied because violent offenders might possibly have a predilection for the video forms of their existing tendencies, yet in my life it is the individuals I meet that have the most profound influences on me. Why not disallow contact between violent felons and their children and other members of society for all of eternity? They have a far stronger influence on those around them than any video games. But to do so would violate so many human rights.
Bah, enough ranting. This man must be stopped. At all costs, he must be stopped.
Wow, some of you are pretty harsh. I can't speak for the poster who originated this particular thread, but I can speak for my original post derived from it. I don't necessarily want the US to be "like" other countries. I just want the US to be a better place to live. I want the US to improve itself to better meet my needs, and to better meet the needs I perceive this nation to have. It's a selfish focus, yes, but at the same time, who among us cannot claim to be somewhat self-motivated?
Besides that, there are certain relatively undisputed components, here. In much of the US, spending on education is low and so is the quality of educational instruction (pre-college, that is). Does putting more money into education and rethinking our educational system mean that it's going to end up just like Europe's system, or whoever else's system? No. It doesn't have to mean that.
We can use the positive qualities of other nations and alter those modes to match out needs without simply copycatting. The US has shown itself, as a nation, capable of integrating and personalizing information as it relates to politics and society. In recent years I feel we, as a nation, have become very lax and too easily influenced by powerful and organized minority groups, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should just clam up and get the hell out. It means we need to work harder to point out our shortcoming and then do the voting and debating and work necessary to try and shore up those shortcomings.
And the end result, whatever it may be, will be uniquely American, and hopefully an improvement over what we are now.
Going slightly off-topic here, but... What on earth does IHBT stand for? I can't say I have a clue.
"Love it or Leave it" is one of the most retarded and unhelpful (not to mention inappropriate) responses to criticisms of the US. My friends and family all live in the US. I want good things for them and for the US. Sure, there are much better places to live, but what I have, in terms of both stuff and people, is all here.
By quoting statistics and data that show the US is failing to achieve, people are hoping to spread awareness and interest in the hopes that people can and will work hard to change the US.
The US now is a superpower with nowhere to go but down, and we will fall, and continue to fall, unless we take the bold steps necessary to change our ways. Only through criticism and willingess to force change will we ever become the nation we think we are instead of the nation we really are.
Because Helpdesk/Support/IT services are expensive, people always want to cut them, or downsize them, or whatever. But the bottom line is you get what you pay for. Pay only peanuts and all you'll get are trained monkeys.
Modern business has decided, for whatever reason, that it needs computers. Well, if they intend to use computers they need to support them and keep them going. The company that cuts too many costs may find they'll lose more in the long run because stuff just doesn't work any longer. The only way to truly cut costs is to hire competent people, compensate them fairly, and make sure they have what they need to do their jobs. When you remove any of these elements you more than make up the costs by losing money elsewhere.
Though the article makes it out to be, it isn't original. The author nowhere points out that he was at all influenced by Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move, an arcade game by Taito that came out in '94 on the Neo Geo hardware, predating Snood by roughly 2 years. It had a cannon at the bottom and fired up colored balls at rows of said balls above, which eliminate when matched in 3s or more.
I think it's all well and good doing a clone game. I've played, loved, and respected many tetris clones over the years. I would say it's possible he came up with Snood without having every seen or played Puzzle Bobble, but I just don't buy it. There are too many similarities.
So does anyone know of any other articles posted elsewhere that confess that Snood is essentially clone?
Here's something that MIGHT apply. I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on this. Seems to refer to audio recordings primarily, with a section for computer programs, but still, it could be inerpreted broadly, beyond physical mediums.
I am not absolutely certain, but I believe the music industry's business is codified in law on some level. While certain aspects of the "sale" of music on one medium or another are understood I do believe that, at least on some level, the business does have a legal standing.
If you want to view it from the view of copyright, which is what you have to do, licensing isn't as complicated at it seems. The copyright holder (music company) grants you the right to have this copy (CD, tape, LP, go back as far as you want) of the recorded material. You are not granted the right to have any a DIFFERENT copy of the music, just the one for which you paid money. Should you damage the original, too bad, that's the only copy you are allowed.
Your DRM point is an interesting one, however. You are allowed to have one copy, that particular copy. That much remains the same. But does the doctrine of first sale apply to the sale of granted copy rights? Does existing law cover the right to transfer the right to a copy of something which is copyrighted? Used books have not been deemed illegal.
At the same time, they may be limited to the original medium, being the medium of the playback device, but I'm not sure that would be simple enough to easily predict results. Can the playback device ALSO be the medium itself without a separate contract to which you must agree?
More food for thought, and boy am I starving!
You are paying for conditional license to listen to that particular recording of the music from said approved medium/media in private/personal settings.
They do not have to provide infinite anything. Would you like them to include a detailed license agreement as with software, shrinkwrap-style?
Windows on a PPC platform would create an interesting conundrum. The programs on x86 Windows would have to be, at the very least, recompiled for PPC hardware. For once, Mac users (of whom I am one from time to time) could finally claim that all the software was designed for the Mac OS, as none of the existing Windows software would actually work on this Windows on PPC OS.
Because combining Virtual PC with a souped up WinNT on PPC core wouldn't really be any better than VPC with OS X.
I second this recommendation for Canon. I did some research a couple years ago along this line.
HP and Lexmark have print heads included in the ink cartridges. This means you always have a fresh print head, but it also means you pay more. And Lexmark and HP are the two worst companies about ink technology and lockouts.
Epson has the print heads in the printer itself, but they can only be replaced by Epson techs and cost quite a bit.
Canon printers are a little cheaper than the others, with cheaper ink as well, and the print heads, though in the printer, should be user replaceable AND relatively affordable. Now, though nice, Canon inkjet printers tend to be a little less cutting edge than the competition, but they're still excellent all around and should prove to be the most affordable solution.
In Tennessee the official term is "Right to hire, right to fire." Employers can hire anyone they want and fire them for any non-federally-prohibited reason with little to no notice. Seems to have little positive influence for your average worker.
Well, since OS X has such great Java support, either natively or via a web browser (also native, but different interface, y'know?), are there any JAVA ANSI terminal emulators/telnet interfaces that could either be opened directly or as an applet in Safari or whatnot?