I've got a good idea. How about we just present nothing but "information suitable for children" to these folks who want the world capable of expressing nothing else? Just think of it:
"ahh did senator not get his nappy wap? would he likee some milk and cookies?"
At least then it would expose the infantile personalities that lie behind all these futile attempts at degrading a global information network.
you speak about getting people interested, and I think that in itself is an art.
The fact is that there are a lot of programmers like myself: we love OSS, the community idea, etc, but its kinda wierd to jump into a project...I wish there were a more standardized way to do it...It takes a lot of time and effort, and when we feel we don't click we go elsewhere.
the other thing is that it can be daunting. When I crack open somebody elses code and its filled we wierd personalized contructs and lacks comments of any kind, it is really intimidating. If people would open up what they are doing and write code with another person reading it in mind, It would be a lot less irratating.
everybody in the NIX community seems so anally fixated on the perfection of how things already are sometimes. It really drives me nuts. The latest Windows media player utilizes non square windows, putting the stage at the center and having various other components protude and move out from it as needed, and its a freaking great interface! We have things as they are because in the past, things like square windows were needed due to limitations of what we could do.
UI is the area where OSS sucks regularaly. Don't get me wrong, a lot of great work is being done here, but fact remains that NIX user experience sucks ass in most occasions, a fact that is made clear in its pathetic desktop percentage, even though its free. This generally suckiness goes beyond GUI, even into shells. Why after 20 years, can't I just type "back" and go back to the directory I was just in? why must I type:/usr/local/myass/myass-2.1.3-beta-src/lib/assconf/ ?
So stop raggin on the guy for having a little freaking imagination about GUI, okay? : )
yes, i would propose the use of 3d harware. If something like cesium were to actually be made, I would just take one machine made by an open source freindly manufacturer (like IBM)that comes with a nice 3d card and target it exclusively, and let anybody who wants to mess with porting drivers and such do it. This would be the only hope for avoiding the hellish driver quagmire (sp?) that Linux has had so much strugle in.
Its never that easy. w3.orgs recomendations are always ahead of browsers can do, and are implemented to varying degrees by various broswers...There are for instance CSS functionalities that no browser can yet do, others that only IE can do, others that only Mozilla can do.
He's right...You guys need to check w3.org, and you'll see that NO BROWSER fully implements w3c recomendations for browsers...Not Mozila, nobody.
AS far as the demands on web devs about this, I feel your pain. One solution I found was to make a PHP/ASP/JSP object with session scope that represents the browser they came in on, then keep content and presentation separate enought that when something that needs special tags comes, you can associate alternative HTML "wrappers" for the data that display for different browser, even if the wrapper just says "your browser can't read this". It keeps the site clean and accessible, and locks people out only of the components that they actually can't see, rather than the whole site.
I really wish this thread had more visibility...Its buried beneath so much slashdot crud.
But the idea is solid. I like the notion of persisent network file objects, and DB as filesystem. Its neat to think of checking certain file dependencies through SELECT statements, and being able to grab it off a remote "filesystem" if the user needs.
I know this works too, because I have already used it at a smaller level to great advantage, through object/component oriented content management systems through PHP/Java/MySQL. Unfortunatly, my Linux/C skills are just not strong enough to do this as it should be done...Yet I profoundly hope this idea gets out there and gets heard enough to inspire action, because its needed!
I've thought about it too...I assume your a programmer:
What do you think about a file system abstraction layer (FSAL) that allows for the treatment of all files as objects? I found the Object oriented FileSystem an inspiring bit of the hoax.
An object oriented FileSystem would mean files that have methods, and properies as metadata, and implementing it as an abtraction layer would mean not limiting existing functionality, but extending it, particularly if it can reference physical files and hold metadata.
Can you imagine that when GIMP is installed, instead of defining internal functions for, say, resizing a jpeg, you simply associated the functions with the object that corresponds to a JPEG itself, with a reference to the particular module that contained the functions. From here, ANY program the needed image processing capabilities could call ANY method that the GIMP has DIRECTLY on the file object without ever digging through the thousands of lines of code that the Gimp has and copying it!!! (provided that the GIMP module with the given method is in the FSAL's DB.)
Hoax or not, that is simply one of the most powerful things I could imagine happening to open source...Every new piece of code being instantly available to new programmers as an instatly accessable, ever growing API, accessible just through reading what methods are registered with a given file type.
First, we all know that this is a hoax at this point, but you brought up some points that I wanted to comment on. Your right that its the rules and common definitions that define a "vernacular" that a human uses to work with a computer, mostly through a process of symbolic reduction of computer functions and attributes. (e.g. a logical grouping of files is reduced to the symbol of a "folder", so a human has a conceptual idea of what it can do, and what its for.)
having a "new" OS that abandons the establish vernacular in this sense is always a bad idea, as it will confuse the human...Just like if you met someone who knows a lot of new terms, but can't communicate the basic english idioms that define your speech.
Where you deserve to be corrected IMHO is on the idea of "sticking to basics". Computers have an incredibly limited symbolic vocabulary that they share with humans, and humans can handle new things being added to language all the time...In fact we love it! We call the new additions "buzzwords".
Anyway, my point is that we don't have to sit here and cry because its a hoax...There's no reason that computers have to stagnate forever being as they are, never radically changing. If you want "celsium" so bad than freakin write it! Else just add the features that you particularly want to your favorite OS, and wait for the changes to add up!
Actually, I think a 3D GUI is a great idea. Consider your existing desktop as it is, but it is being rendered on a flat 3d, plane, exactly in front of you. If the 3d engine is written intelligently, this won't take a whole lot more resouces than you existing desktop does, because it is outputting the same thing to your monitor...the BEAUTY of this system however, is that a programmer has the ability to do incredible things with the GUI, because that 3d functionality is there, at such a low level...things like taking a window and zooming out to infinity on minimalize, or renering it partially transparent when it loses focus...the possibilities are limitless.
OF COURSE things like this would take resources, but you can bet that the MIT guys will think of this, and give you options to balance your GUI kewlness factor against your system resources, like any OS from Windows to Linux does.
here's an inpiring quote from that article, refering to Goldfein or whoever:
His final warning could not have been clearer: "Preserving our freedom is the reason we are now engaged in this new war on terrorism. We will lose that war without a shot being fired if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people in the belief that by doing so we will stop the terrorists."
This such a ridiculous notion...I can't believe anybody would think its possible.
People need to learn that the web is an amourphous stew of electronic information floating around. Things like "email" and "web pages" have no tangible existence, they are just abstractions for interpreting data. They can be liquified, converted into ANY other form, sent, and reinterpreted by the end user. I could easily make a system for putting email right through FBI routers without a second glance, if only through breaking the email down into nonsense words and sending it as separate messages bfore reassemlbing it at the other side.
Unfortunatly, this post is right...
The whack off factor in the aspect of the Linux community that posts here is alarmingly high. This is not so bad in itself, but it signifies a deeper trend.
The trend is about OSS programmers losing touch with the reality of what software does, from a human perspective. Its an easy trap to get caught in...It starts when you get distracted in what a system could be doing rather than what it is doing. We value Linux box in terms of all the things it could potentially be doing, and we forget the actual amount of human complexity involved in getting things done, for the end user. When you become obsessed with extensibility or modularity, you will create crap. The ONLY thing to be obsessed with is end user experience. WE DON'T PROGRAM FOR ANY OTHER REASON!. If you can do it in an extensible way, all the better.
This same thinking should be applied to things like uptime...In the context of the human experience, the system that crashes all the time yet offers a simple way to get things done is infinitly more pleasant than the system that is a pain to use, yet you never have to push the reset button...Just think about it.
Microsoft setting standards
on
Microsoft's Future
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I was actually at a dinner party the other night here in Seattle and was able to chat with a high level IT manager for Microsoft...It was pretty interesting to talk to him about where Microsoft is headed from the business perspective: He said basically that Windows XP should be on every computer in the world, no exceptions. When I asked him about the implications of NSA backdoors for other countries governments, he didn't even give an inch. (but said that other OS's can take a small part of the percentage, so long as it remains "very small").
Anyway, the wierd thing I learned from this guy was that the upper management at Microsoft actually plans to be collecting revenue from basically every computer user in the world through liscenses and.NET services in the pretty near future...They live in a reality where they believe everybody has a buttload of money to spend on "web services" and software liscenses, and as soon as they open the floodgates its just gonna come pouring in!
anyway, I'm not religious, I use Microsoft stuff all the time. More power to them. But its just not gonna happen...Microsoft has had its glory days, and now I am starting to see the seeds of the computer world "moving on". People simply don't have the cash or interest now that the Internet boom is gone to pretend that they are gonna get rich by installing XP server for their company. Those days are gone, now people want the basic functionality they need at the lowest possible prices.
Ask a desktop OS, unfortunatly Linux lies far behind windows to my experience.
With Zimian, (which is GREAT with enough memory) it takes 256 megs of ram on my computer to run without writing to swap. I would LOVE for somebody to tell me I configured something poorly, but that has been my experience with a couple of machines and distros...Linux, Like Apache, pays for excellent standards compliance and modularity with perfomance drop.
The fact of the matter that everybody has known for a long time is that only pedophiles and terrorists use Linux on the Desktop.
On the whole, this fact has been too long ignored...Even though when you think about it, do you know ANYBODY who uses Linux as a desktop OS who is not
A) A terrorist
B) A pedophile
I'll bet you don't, unless you use it yourself. Then you don't notice that your cohorts are terrorists and pedophiles, because you are too busy hiding the fact that you are a terrorist and/or pedophile yourself. Or you may be in denial, telling yourself that those fantasies about mortar shells and Microsoft are natural, as are those thoughts about underage Britney Spears Dancing naked on your computer desk. Well guess what: THEY'RE NOT! So wake up and smell the coffee, you sick Osama bin Homo Linux geeks.
If Linux wants to make money, I recommend they follow a model that works...AOL!
Now before you laugh, consider it. Wouldn't it be nice for the basic user to have all that free software just installed and updated on their system once it comes out, appearing as a shiny little KDE icon, just as easy as an AOL update? Offering options of what they can download?
All you'd need to do is to make a distro with a daemon that connects to a "Linux service provider" to get updates once they connect to the net, then manages the installs for the user through idiot proof wizards. They'd never have to touch a command prompt, It would all be placed on their desktop automatically.
The best part is, you could CHARGE for the service, and start spamming the world with Linux CDs that offer the "first two months" free. Now THERE'S a business model!!! ; )
You OSS people are all just jealous because Linux didn't get one.
The fact is that all the media people I work with LOVE Apple. They DREAM about G4's, and there's alot of good reason too, as far as what it makes available to the basic user as far as video editing and what-not...Realistically there isn't alot of competition within the price range.
As a Linux fan, its an area that I would like to see the penguin break into a bit more myself, but this happens to be one area where Mac's proprietary archetecture seems to pay off a bit...There is some multimedia software for Linux, but the hardware support just doesn't seem to be there yet.
If it ever becomes an issue, do the following before you have built up a limiting infrastructure:
1) adopt a server side scripting language capable of analysing requests for OS, and browser type. I use JSP.
2) Create a wrapper or custom tag for both Flash presentations and quicktime movies.
3) Program it so it responds to Apple and Windows requests normally, but for Linux it embeds a quicktime movie player applet based off the Java Media Framework program the wrapper for Flash movies to check for Flash capable Linux browsers, and apply alternative content if otherwise.
Oh, foo. XML is a fine transmition protocol between programs, I mean, its not going to have huge chucks of binary data expressed through XML or anything...It just makes a way to, say, send the same output to the user's broswer to read, and also to another program to be processed. It reduces need to parse and preprocess all over the place.
Java isn't too isolated either...I live off a high java diet ever sinse I switched to Linux, both on the client and the server. The client programs are slow to start, but usually fine once they do. On my 750 I don't care too much, because the slowdown is small. Java on the server is pretty much legend at this point, when compared to PHP.
Your right that there's nothing too wrong with this...What I was talking about was more the philosphy that underlies little (somewhat harmless) software like this.
In making this software, somebody, somewhere, decided that their company has a right to define rules on YOUR system to enforce their "Rental" business model. They can define policies on THEIR server all they wish about when I can download whatever for pay, but when it comes to YOUR computer its a different matter.
Its idea that a company should control individuals machines to enforce their business model that's a scary idea and needs checking.
It seems like there's something very wrong with that idea of movies that "erase themselves off your hard drive" after 24 hours...Why does this sort of thing just give me the creeps? Is that just me?
It seems to be part of a bigger picture: The industies in control are literally trying to change the entire way of the Internet right now, to make it fit a more "profitable" model without them trying to change their existing business models.It seems a strange idea to me that anything or anyone but me should control what happens on my hard drive, but that's exactly what we are seeing...software that takes control of your personal computer and works it into a business model contrary to natural structure of the decentralized Internet we use today.
This little thing is not that scary...But behind the guise of lots of these little things lurks the ominous monster of a global information infrastructure controlled by corporations, not by individuals. We need to take this seriously...
Slashdot Mirror
I've got a good idea. How about we just present nothing but "information suitable for children" to these folks who want the world capable of expressing nothing else? Just think of it:
"ahh did senator not get his nappy wap? would he likee some milk and cookies?"
At least then it would expose the infantile personalities that lie behind all these futile attempts at degrading a global information network.
you speak about getting people interested, and I think that in itself is an art.
The fact is that there are a lot of programmers like myself: we love OSS, the community idea, etc, but its kinda wierd to jump into a project...I wish there were a more standardized way to do it...It takes a lot of time and effort, and when we feel we don't click we go elsewhere.
the other thing is that it can be daunting. When I crack open somebody elses code and its filled we wierd personalized contructs and lacks comments of any kind, it is really intimidating. If people would open up what they are doing and write code with another person reading it in mind, It would be a lot less irratating.
everybody in the NIX community seems so anally fixated on the perfection of how things already are sometimes. It really drives me nuts. The latest Windows media player utilizes non square windows, putting the stage at the center and having various other components protude and move out from it as needed, and its a freaking great interface! We have things as they are because in the past, things like square windows were needed due to limitations of what we could do.
/usr/local/myass/myass-2.1.3-beta-src/lib/assconf/ ?
UI is the area where OSS sucks regularaly. Don't get me wrong, a lot of great work is being done here, but fact remains that NIX user experience sucks ass in most occasions, a fact that is made clear in its pathetic desktop percentage, even though its free. This generally suckiness goes beyond GUI, even into shells. Why after 20 years, can't I just type "back" and go back to the directory I was just in? why must I type:
So stop raggin on the guy for having a little freaking imagination about GUI, okay? : )
yes, i would propose the use of 3d harware. If something like cesium were to actually be made, I would just take one machine made by an open source freindly manufacturer (like IBM)that comes with a nice 3d card and target it exclusively, and let anybody who wants to mess with porting drivers and such do it. This would be the only hope for avoiding the hellish driver quagmire (sp?) that Linux has had so much strugle in.
Its never that easy. w3.orgs recomendations are always ahead of browsers can do, and are implemented to varying degrees by various broswers...There are for instance CSS functionalities that no browser can yet do, others that only IE can do, others that only Mozilla can do.
He's right...You guys need to check w3.org, and you'll see that NO BROWSER fully implements w3c recomendations for browsers...Not Mozila, nobody.
AS far as the demands on web devs about this, I feel your pain. One solution I found was to make a PHP/ASP/JSP object with session scope that represents the browser they came in on, then keep content and presentation separate enought that when something that needs special tags comes, you can associate alternative HTML "wrappers" for the data that display for different browser, even if the wrapper just says "your browser can't read this". It keeps the site clean and accessible, and locks people out only of the components that they actually can't see, rather than the whole site.
I really wish this thread had more visibility...Its buried beneath so much slashdot crud.
But the idea is solid. I like the notion of persisent network file objects, and DB as filesystem. Its neat to think of checking certain file dependencies through SELECT statements, and being able to grab it off a remote "filesystem" if the user needs.
I know this works too, because I have already used it at a smaller level to great advantage, through object/component oriented content management systems through PHP/Java/MySQL. Unfortunatly, my Linux/C skills are just not strong enough to do this as it should be done...Yet I profoundly hope this idea gets out there and gets heard enough to inspire action, because its needed!
I've thought about it too...I assume your a programmer:
What do you think about a file system abstraction layer (FSAL) that allows for the treatment of all files as objects? I found the Object oriented FileSystem an inspiring bit of the hoax.
An object oriented FileSystem would mean files that have methods, and properies as metadata, and implementing it as an abtraction layer would mean not limiting existing functionality, but extending it, particularly if it can reference physical files and hold metadata.
Can you imagine that when GIMP is installed, instead of defining internal functions for, say, resizing a jpeg, you simply associated the functions with the object that corresponds to a JPEG itself , with a reference to the particular module that contained the functions. From here, ANY program the needed image processing capabilities could call ANY method that the GIMP has DIRECTLY on the file object without ever digging through the thousands of lines of code that the Gimp has and copying it!!! (provided that the GIMP module with the given method is in the FSAL's DB.)
Hoax or not, that is simply one of the most powerful things I could imagine happening to open source...Every new piece of code being instantly available to new programmers as an instatly accessable, ever growing API, accessible just through reading what methods are registered with a given file type.
hehehe "but we HEARD you guys would develop it, so doesn't that mean you have to???"
poor MIT. Your right though, it is a good idea.
Hey, smart response....
First, we all know that this is a hoax at this point, but you brought up some points that I wanted to comment on.
Your right that its the rules and common definitions that define a "vernacular" that a human uses to work with a computer, mostly through a process of symbolic reduction of computer functions and attributes. (e.g. a logical grouping of files is reduced to the symbol of a "folder", so a human has a conceptual idea of what it can do, and what its for.)
having a "new" OS that abandons the establish vernacular in this sense is always a bad idea, as it will confuse the human...Just like if you met someone who knows a lot of new terms, but can't communicate the basic english idioms that define your speech.
Where you deserve to be corrected IMHO is on the idea of "sticking to basics". Computers have an incredibly limited symbolic vocabulary that they share with humans, and humans can handle new things being added to language all the time...In fact we love it! We call the new additions "buzzwords".
Anyway, my point is that we don't have to sit here and cry because its a hoax...There's no reason that computers have to stagnate forever being as they are, never radically changing. If you want "celsium" so bad than freakin write it! Else just add the features that you particularly want to your favorite OS, and wait for the changes to add up!
Actually, I think a 3D GUI is a great idea. Consider your existing desktop as it is, but it is being rendered on a flat 3d, plane, exactly in front of you. If the 3d engine is written intelligently, this won't take a whole lot more resouces than you existing desktop does, because it is outputting the same thing to your monitor...the BEAUTY of this system however, is that a programmer has the ability to do incredible things with the GUI, because that 3d functionality is there, at such a low level...things like taking a window and zooming out to infinity on minimalize, or renering it partially transparent when it loses focus...the possibilities are limitless.
OF COURSE things like this would take resources, but you can bet that the MIT guys will think of this, and give you options to balance your GUI kewlness factor against your system resources, like any OS from Windows to Linux does.
Interestesting...I admit that I don't know all the details, but I thought XML-RPC was the Sun equivilent of SOAP...
here's an inpiring quote from that article, refering to Goldfein or whoever:
His final warning could not have been clearer: "Preserving our freedom is the reason we are now engaged in this new war on terrorism. We will lose that war without a shot being fired if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people in the belief that by doing so we will stop the terrorists."
This such a ridiculous notion...I can't believe anybody would think its possible.
People need to learn that the web is an amourphous stew of electronic information floating around. Things like "email" and "web pages" have no tangible existence, they are just abstractions for interpreting data. They can be liquified, converted into ANY other form, sent, and reinterpreted by the end user. I could easily make a system for putting email right through FBI routers without a second glance, if only through breaking the email down into nonsense words and sending it as separate messages bfore reassemlbing it at the other side.
Unfortunatly, this post is right...
The whack off factor in the aspect of the Linux community that posts here is alarmingly high. This is not so bad in itself, but it signifies a deeper trend.
The trend is about OSS programmers losing touch with the reality of what software does, from a human perspective. Its an easy trap to get caught in...It starts when you get distracted in what a system could be doing rather than what it is doing. We value Linux box in terms of all the things it could potentially be doing, and we forget the actual amount of human complexity involved in getting things done, for the end user. When you become obsessed with extensibility or modularity, you will create crap. The ONLY thing to be obsessed with is end user experience. WE DON'T PROGRAM FOR ANY OTHER REASON!. If you can do it in an extensible way, all the better.
This same thinking should be applied to things like uptime...In the context of the human experience, the system that crashes all the time yet offers a simple way to get things done is infinitly more pleasant than the system that is a pain to use, yet you never have to push the reset button...Just think about it.
I was actually at a dinner party the other night here in Seattle and was able to chat with a high level IT manager for Microsoft...It was pretty interesting to talk to him about where Microsoft is headed from the business perspective: He said basically that Windows XP should be on every computer in the world, no exceptions. When I asked him about the implications of NSA backdoors for other countries governments, he didn't even give an inch. (but said that other OS's can take a small part of the percentage, so long as it remains "very small").
.NET services in the pretty near future...They live in a reality where they believe everybody has a buttload of money to spend on "web services" and software liscenses, and as soon as they open the floodgates its just gonna come pouring in!
Anyway, the wierd thing I learned from this guy was that the upper management at Microsoft actually plans to be collecting revenue from basically every computer user in the world through liscenses and
anyway, I'm not religious, I use Microsoft stuff all the time. More power to them. But its just not gonna happen...Microsoft has had its glory days, and now I am starting to see the seeds of the computer world "moving on". People simply don't have the cash or interest now that the Internet boom is gone to pretend that they are gonna get rich by installing XP server for their company. Those days are gone, now people want the basic functionality they need at the lowest possible prices.
Oh my God, you can make a vector full of functions/methods in Python!? That has to be the coolest thing I've ever heard!
Ask a desktop OS, unfortunatly Linux lies far behind windows to my experience.
With Zimian, (which is GREAT with enough memory) it takes 256 megs of ram on my computer to run without writing to swap. I would LOVE for somebody to tell me I configured something poorly, but that has been my experience with a couple of machines and distros...Linux, Like Apache, pays for excellent standards compliance and modularity with perfomance drop.
The fact of the matter that everybody has known for a long time is that only pedophiles and terrorists use Linux on the Desktop.
On the whole, this fact has been too long ignored...Even though when you think about it, do you know ANYBODY who uses Linux as a desktop OS who is not
A) A terrorist
B) A pedophile
I'll bet you don't, unless you use it yourself. Then you don't notice that your cohorts are terrorists and pedophiles, because you are too busy hiding the fact that you are a terrorist and/or pedophile yourself. Or you may be in denial, telling yourself that those fantasies about mortar shells and Microsoft are natural, as are those thoughts about underage Britney Spears Dancing naked on your computer desk. Well guess what: THEY'RE NOT! So wake up and smell the coffee, you sick Osama bin Homo Linux geeks.
If Linux wants to make money, I recommend they follow a model that works...AOL!
Now before you laugh, consider it. Wouldn't it be nice for the basic user to have all that free software just installed and updated on their system once it comes out, appearing as a shiny little KDE icon, just as easy as an AOL update? Offering options of what they can download?
All you'd need to do is to make a distro with a daemon that connects to a "Linux service provider" to get updates once they connect to the net, then manages the installs for the user through idiot proof wizards. They'd never have to touch a command prompt, It would all be placed on their desktop automatically.
The best part is, you could CHARGE for the service, and start spamming the world with Linux CDs that offer the "first two months" free. Now THERE'S a business model!!! ; )
You OSS people are all just jealous because Linux didn't get one.
The fact is that all the media people I work with LOVE Apple. They DREAM about G4's, and there's alot of good reason too, as far as what it makes available to the basic user as far as video editing and what-not...Realistically there isn't alot of competition within the price range.
As a Linux fan, its an area that I would like to see the penguin break into a bit more myself, but this happens to be one area where Mac's proprietary archetecture seems to pay off a bit...There is some multimedia software for Linux, but the hardware support just doesn't seem to be there yet.
If it ever becomes an issue, do the following before you have built up a limiting infrastructure:
1) adopt a server side scripting language capable of analysing requests for OS, and browser type. I use JSP.
2) Create a wrapper or custom tag for both Flash presentations and quicktime movies.
3) Program it so it responds to Apple and Windows requests normally, but for Linux it embeds a quicktime movie player applet based off the Java Media Framework program the wrapper for Flash movies to check for Flash capable Linux browsers, and apply alternative content if otherwise.
Problem solved.
Oh, foo. XML is a fine transmition protocol between programs, I mean, its not going to have huge chucks of binary data expressed through XML or anything...It just makes a way to, say, send the same output to the user's broswer to read, and also to another program to be processed. It reduces need to parse and preprocess all over the place.
Java isn't too isolated either...I live off a high java diet ever sinse I switched to Linux, both on the client and the server. The client programs are slow to start, but usually fine once they do. On my 750 I don't care too much, because the slowdown is small. Java on the server is pretty much legend at this point, when compared to PHP.
Your right that there's nothing too wrong with this...What I was talking about was more the philosphy that underlies little (somewhat harmless) software like this.
In making this software, somebody, somewhere, decided that their company has a right to define rules on YOUR system to enforce their "Rental" business model. They can define policies on THEIR server all they wish about when I can download whatever for pay, but when it comes to YOUR computer its a different matter.
Its idea that a company should control individuals machines to enforce their business model that's a scary idea and needs checking.
It seems like there's something very wrong with that idea of movies that "erase themselves off your hard drive" after 24 hours...Why does this sort of thing just give me the creeps? Is that just me?
It seems to be part of a bigger picture: The industies in control are literally trying to change the entire way of the Internet right now, to make it fit a more "profitable" model without them trying to change their existing business models.It seems a strange idea to me that anything or anyone but me should control what happens on my hard drive, but that's exactly what we are seeing...software that takes control of your personal computer and works it into a business model contrary to natural structure of the decentralized Internet we use today.
This little thing is not that scary...But behind the guise of lots of these little things lurks the ominous monster of a global information infrastructure controlled by corporations, not by individuals. We need to take this seriously...