Lawyers do NOT want companies thinking like this article suggests. They WANT companies starting lawsuits over the smallest of violations, real or imagined.
It's how they get themselves paid.
Why would they want anything else? They coach their clients strongly to persue every available legal option by using the tried and true "scare tactic" marketing technique: "If you DON'T sue them, think what the NEXT person might do - you don't want your product to get away from you!".
We are cursed with Lexmark printers at work - after the fiasco with the anti-refill chips, I can safely say that:
I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER LEXMARK PRODUCT AS LONG AS I LIVE!
I sure hope someone from Lexmark reads that - I make a point of informing my friends and co-workers about what Lexmark (and the other printer companies are trying to pull).
For my own use on my inkjets in the office and at home, I use a continuous flow ink supply system that incorporates a modified ink cartridge that pulls ink through tubes from large bottles beside the printer - I've printed thousands of pages through it and it's worked flawlessly. Definately one of my best purchases and it works on most Epson printers (non-pigment models so far).
On the topic of sequels, let's look at what our Hollywood buddies are currently working on (this is by no means a comprehensive list - took 4 minutes at a few popular movie sites to dig up):
Fast and Furious 2 xXx 2 Wargames 2 Child's Play 5 Die Hard 4 Oceans's Twelve Se7en 2 Mission Impossible 3 Starship Troopers 2 Terminator 3 Mad Max 4 Legally Blonde 2 Gladiator 2 Indiana Jones 4 Scary Movie 3 Total Recall 2 Jungle Book 2 Tomb Raider 2 Final Destination 2 Highlander 5
You get the picture (some of those are only in pre-production right now, and still have the possibility of being dumped, but...)
Remember, that in the eyes of any business, you're nothing but $$$ signs.
And their primary purpose for being in business is to seperate the $$$ from you as fast as possible to put the money in their own accounts.
Pretty much the same way the government views you.
On the topic of subscriptions, pay-per-view, DRM, etc, it's worth noting that companies are at their happiest when they don't have to actually do ANYTHING for you, but can still collect your money. License fees, repeat viewing fees, etc.
Doesn't cost them a cent in terms of extra product, but generates revenue...
Sorry to disagree with the previous poster, but "lowering the prices" is exactly what they need to do.
It all stems from the fact that people are basically lazy.
At some point the price will be low enough that joe consumer will just plunk down $$$ and buy the damn thing rather than having to bother with downloading/extracting/burning, whatever.
What's that price point? Who knows. When DVDs are $15 or less, I consider them an impulse buy - I'll throw a few into my cart/basket while shopping just to have something to watch.
At $25, they're more of a "considered buy".
I look at something like boxsets from Fox vs. Paramount. (simpsons vs. trek).
Simpsons Season 2 box set - $35ish Trek Season (something) box - $100+ish
Guess which one is the better value and won't be pirated? Who's going to spend hours and hours re-encoding and re-burning simpsons DVDs that they could just pick up for $35 and be done with?
Heck, there are 4-6 DVDs in EACH set - why the pricing difference? Because one company wants to make their money milking their fans, and one wants to make it affordable for their fans to collect everything.
The only reason there's not more outcry right now over the whole HDTV thing as mentioned in the NYT article is because not many people have HD-ready (??) sets, and even fewer have actual HD receivers.
If the corporate money-men try something like macrovisioning regular TV channels, even on PPV, they're going to see a fairly large consumer backlash.
A lot of shareware authors, particularly those with programs that are fairly popular have been switching to a new registration scheme that this Apple upgrade policy reminds me of.
Shareware authors tend to call it something like "upgrade protection". Basically when you register the software, you get any updates for some period of time (usually a year) afterwards. If you want to upgrade again after that, you must purchase the upgrade protection fee.
I know all the arguments why they do it, how they need the money, etc.
But it makes me mad, and I refuse to play that game.
I registered a certain shareware internet application a couple years ago that had always been "free upgrades" ever since version 1.0 (it was version 3.x when I purchased it). The version AFTER I got mine, the author decided to start this upgrade protection nonsense. No continuing free versions for previous customers, we all get to play the protection racket game.
Needless to say, I immediately went looking for a keygen and made myself a valid key for the new versions.
I know everyone on their moral highground will defend the author and probably give me a hard time. So be it, I can accept that.
Had I known about this policy before making my purchase, I would've chosen another product to spend my money on. My _trust_ was violated, regardless of the legality of his actions.
In the marketing world, perception is everything - Apple's decision may make sense on budgetary, ethical, and legal footings, but if it annoys people as much as this shareware author's new policy annoyed me, Apple will get some negative PR.
Not strong, not particularly mean and nasty PR, but a lot of "Apple just isn't quite as good a company as I thought it was". And that cooling of the warm and fuzzy feelings on which Apple so bases their marketing and promotional campaigns, could be very dangerous indeed.
And it's worth remembering that Disney Co. has made a LOT of money off of other works which they didn't create.
Take Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. They didn't create either of them, and made huge financial gains by re-telling the story in animated form.
Why should we be prevented from using THEIR works the same way?
Big companies abuse copyrights for all they're worth. IMHO, they should expire 50 years after the creator's death. And that should not be able to be changed.
Cripes, you'd think if he was gonna mess with stuff like this, he'd at least have the smarts to send documents to websites through anonymous remailers (mixmaster and the like), etc.
It goes without saying that when it comes to documents with vital company secrets being distributed, companies will often code-in identifying features so they can discover where the leak came from which makes distributing documents even more risky. Text watermarking, etc.
Much better idea to digest the ideas yourself and re-write them in your own words before leaking them...
I was toying with the old "blowing stuff up" bit when I was in highschool. Decided to whip up a batch of ammonium nitrogen triiodide in the basement.
I managed to procure some pure iodine crystals from a drugstore (I still don't know why (a) they had them, or (b) why they sold them to me).
Unfortunately my ammonia wasn't strong enough to react particularly well, but it was good enough that I got the reaction going a bit - I left it in the sink tub and went off to watch TV for a bit - while I was gone, everything dried out...
When I was going back into the room, I flipped the lights on and heard something between a pop and a bang. It's amazing how unstable that stuff is - certainly not good to play around with...
Turns out that if I had borrowed some ammonia from my friend's blueprinting machine, I probably would've got a much better reaction (it was enough to knock him out cold when he decided to smell the ammonia).
To add to the problems, the iodine crystals slowly sublimed over a few weeks while in the container on my shelf, turning the container a nasty red/purple color, and probably didn't do me much good as I inhaled the stuff...
I dread going to electronics stores and having the local sales-vulture approach me.
I'm thinking about starting a site to promote a "stay the hell away from me"-style badge that people could wear to retail stores to warn salesdroids that they are NOT welcome to approach/pander/sell to me because I know exactly what I'm looking for, or I just want to browse in peace.
I saw a 42" plasma at Costco... I think it might've been the daewoo.
The contrast ratio was absolute garbage - instead of crisp blacks and whites there was muddy whites and grey blacks. Not good. Played with all of the menu settings, didn't do much good.
I wasn't too impressed. I've seen other plasmas that are quite nice, but in the end, I'd rather spend the same amount of cashola on a decent ceiling-mount DLP projector.
Based on what I remember from my science class, when the sun gets to red-giant stage, it will expand to such a degree that we'll actually be inside it's diameter.
Toasty.
Hopefully people will have moved on by then. Thankfully although the clock is still ticking, it has a way to go - I probly won't be around... probly.:P
It's worth noting that to date, the CPCC (Candian Private Copying Collective) has collected over 20 MILLION dollars due to the levy on CD-R media.
Not a single PENNY has gone to anyone except the CPCC. They havn't given any of it to anyone.
And since the levy is implemented by the government, you'd expect that we (the public) could have a look at the books... Wrong, the CPCC is more or less a private company, so they don't have to show the public what they're doing behind the scenes.
You are absolutely on-the-money, and it's the reason why I won't go anywhere near a big TV which claims "HD/Digital" right now.
That said, if new digital sets are crippled as much as the entertainment industry is trying to make them, I won't go near them either.
Sorry folks, I have NO problems staying with a decent analog picture if it's free.
Even if they put smartcards of some sort in TV sets, what are they going to do, tell everyone who has purchased a set that "in 6 months we'll be altering the encryption, you must now go and purchase a new card for your TV or you won't receive any signals".
Oh wait, yes, that's EXACTLY what they're going to do. And I won't have it.
The funny thing is that the entertainment industry has been absolutely whining up a storm about DVD piracy, but the fact is that DVDs are selling incredibly well (far better than VHS tapes used to), and as an added benefit, they cost less to produce.
Hosted an xmas party at his house for the staff. Thought it was a pretty nice gesture. Only two problems: It's hell-and-far-gone from where I live (3 hours round-trip), and I was sick as a dog.
I am a true AdShield (www.adshield.org) evangelist. I have it installed on every one of my machines, and encourage friends, family and students to install it on theirs.
I will support websites by not blocking their non-animated banner ads. Everything that's animated, (especially flash), or have non-banner format graphics get blocked immediately.
Sites that try to pop something up have all of their advertising removed, regardless of the format of their ads.
Slashdot Mirror
Lawyers do NOT want companies thinking like this article suggests. They WANT companies starting lawsuits over the smallest of violations, real or imagined.
It's how they get themselves paid.
Why would they want anything else? They coach their clients strongly to persue every available legal option by using the tried and true "scare tactic" marketing technique: "If you DON'T sue them, think what the NEXT person might do - you don't want your product to get away from you!".
Sorry, bad link... Let me try that again:
CFS Systems
N.
We are cursed with Lexmark printers at work - after the fiasco with the anti-refill chips, I can safely say that:
I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER LEXMARK PRODUCT AS LONG AS I LIVE!
I sure hope someone from Lexmark reads that - I make a point of informing my friends and co-workers about what Lexmark (and the other printer companies are trying to pull).
For my own use on my inkjets in the office and at home, I use a continuous flow ink supply system that incorporates a modified ink cartridge that pulls ink through tubes from large bottles beside the printer - I've printed thousands of pages through it and it's worked flawlessly. Definately one of my best purchases and it works on most Epson printers (non-pigment models so far).
www.inksupply.com/cfs
N.
Why not just have operators add a default file to their site, sort of like a robots.txt file?
Something like:
mirror.txt (allow_automatic_mirror:true/false)
Seems like an easy solution?
N.
On the topic of sequels, let's look at what our Hollywood buddies are currently working on (this is by no means a comprehensive list - took 4 minutes at a few popular movie sites to dig up):
Fast and Furious 2
xXx 2
Wargames 2
Child's Play 5
Die Hard 4
Oceans's Twelve
Se7en 2
Mission Impossible 3
Starship Troopers 2
Terminator 3
Mad Max 4
Legally Blonde 2
Gladiator 2
Indiana Jones 4
Scary Movie 3
Total Recall 2
Jungle Book 2
Tomb Raider 2
Final Destination 2
Highlander 5
You get the picture (some of those are only in pre-production right now, and still have the possibility of being dumped, but...)
Maybe they should just do series on TV instead...
N.
Erm... Yes?
Remember, that in the eyes of any business, you're nothing but $$$ signs.
And their primary purpose for being in business is to seperate the $$$ from you as fast as possible to put the money in their own accounts.
Pretty much the same way the government views you.
On the topic of subscriptions, pay-per-view, DRM, etc, it's worth noting that companies are at their happiest when they don't have to actually do ANYTHING for you, but can still collect your money. License fees, repeat viewing fees, etc.
Doesn't cost them a cent in terms of extra product, but generates revenue...
N.
Sorry to disagree with the previous poster, but "lowering the prices" is exactly what they need to do.
It all stems from the fact that people are basically lazy.
At some point the price will be low enough that joe consumer will just plunk down $$$ and buy the damn thing rather than having to bother with downloading/extracting/burning, whatever.
What's that price point? Who knows. When DVDs are $15 or less, I consider them an impulse buy - I'll throw a few into my cart/basket while shopping just to have something to watch.
At $25, they're more of a "considered buy".
I look at something like boxsets from Fox vs. Paramount. (simpsons vs. trek).
Simpsons Season 2 box set - $35ish
Trek Season (something) box - $100+ish
Guess which one is the better value and won't be pirated? Who's going to spend hours and hours re-encoding and re-burning simpsons DVDs that they could just pick up for $35 and be done with?
Heck, there are 4-6 DVDs in EACH set - why the pricing difference? Because one company wants to make their money milking their fans, and one wants to make it affordable for their fans to collect everything.
The only reason there's not more outcry right now over the whole HDTV thing as mentioned in the NYT article is because not many people have HD-ready (??) sets, and even fewer have actual HD receivers.
If the corporate money-men try something like macrovisioning regular TV channels, even on PPV, they're going to see a fairly large consumer backlash.
And I can't wait.
N.
A lot of shareware authors, particularly those with programs that are fairly popular have been switching to a new registration scheme that this Apple upgrade policy reminds me of.
Shareware authors tend to call it something like "upgrade protection". Basically when you register the software, you get any updates for some period of time (usually a year) afterwards. If you want to upgrade again after that, you must purchase the upgrade protection fee.
I know all the arguments why they do it, how they need the money, etc.
But it makes me mad, and I refuse to play that game.
I registered a certain shareware internet application a couple years ago that had always been "free upgrades" ever since version 1.0 (it was version 3.x when I purchased it). The version AFTER I got mine, the author decided to start this upgrade protection nonsense. No continuing free versions for previous customers, we all get to play the protection racket game.
Needless to say, I immediately went looking for a keygen and made myself a valid key for the new versions.
I know everyone on their moral highground will defend the author and probably give me a hard time. So be it, I can accept that.
Had I known about this policy before making my purchase, I would've chosen another product to spend my money on. My _trust_ was violated, regardless of the legality of his actions.
In the marketing world, perception is everything - Apple's decision may make sense on budgetary, ethical, and legal footings, but if it annoys people as much as this shareware author's new policy annoyed me, Apple will get some negative PR.
Not strong, not particularly mean and nasty PR, but a lot of "Apple just isn't quite as good a company as I thought it was". And that cooling of the warm and fuzzy feelings on which Apple so bases their marketing and promotional campaigns, could be very dangerous indeed.
N.
Abject apologies. I should've checked the link first - slashdot managed to break it in the posting interface ;-;. Here's the correct one.
Correct Link
N.
Uh oh... This just showed up on Tech TV...
I have a bad feeling these guys are in for some nasty legal paperwork from Paramount in the very near future...
N.
And it's worth remembering that Disney Co. has made a LOT of money off of other works which they didn't create.
Take Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. They didn't create either of them, and made huge financial gains by re-telling the story in animated form.
Why should we be prevented from using THEIR works the same way?
Big companies abuse copyrights for all they're worth. IMHO, they should expire 50 years after the creator's death. And that should not be able to be changed.
N.
Good job, thanks!
N.
Cripes, you'd think if he was gonna mess with stuff like this, he'd at least have the smarts to send documents to websites through anonymous remailers (mixmaster and the like), etc.
It goes without saying that when it comes to documents with vital company secrets being distributed, companies will often code-in identifying features so they can discover where the leak came from which makes distributing documents even more risky. Text watermarking, etc.
Much better idea to digest the ideas yourself and re-write them in your own words before leaking them...
N.
Let's be honest here... A top of the line dual-G4 machine is more like 40-50% slower than a top of the line single Intel or AMD processor...
f ea tures/cw_macvspc2.htm
While Macs may look pretty, they're certainly not powerhouses...
http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2002/07_jul/
N.
Website owners grease some palms at slashdot to garner some extra pagehits to pay the bills?
N.
Exactly ;P
I was toying with the old "blowing stuff up" bit when I was in highschool. Decided to whip up a batch of ammonium nitrogen triiodide in the basement.
I managed to procure some pure iodine crystals from a drugstore (I still don't know why (a) they had them, or (b) why they sold them to me).
Unfortunately my ammonia wasn't strong enough to react particularly well, but it was good enough that I got the reaction going a bit - I left it in the sink tub and went off to watch TV for a bit - while I was gone, everything dried out...
When I was going back into the room, I flipped the lights on and heard something between a pop and a bang. It's amazing how unstable that stuff is - certainly not good to play around with...
Turns out that if I had borrowed some ammonia from my friend's blueprinting machine, I probably would've got a much better reaction (it was enough to knock him out cold when he decided to smell the ammonia).
To add to the problems, the iodine crystals slowly sublimed over a few weeks while in the container on my shelf, turning the container a nasty red/purple color, and probably didn't do me much good as I inhaled the stuff...
N.
Should I wrap my tires and my printer in tinfoil then? ;P
N.
I dread going to electronics stores and having the local sales-vulture approach me.
I'm thinking about starting a site to promote a "stay the hell away from me"-style badge that people could wear to retail stores to warn salesdroids that they are NOT welcome to approach/pander/sell to me because I know exactly what I'm looking for, or I just want to browse in peace.
N.
I saw a 42" plasma at Costco... I think it might've been the daewoo.
The contrast ratio was absolute garbage - instead of crisp blacks and whites there was muddy whites and grey blacks. Not good. Played with all of the menu settings, didn't do much good.
I wasn't too impressed. I've seen other plasmas that are quite nice, but in the end, I'd rather spend the same amount of cashola on a decent ceiling-mount DLP projector.
N.
Based on what I remember from my science class, when the sun gets to red-giant stage, it will expand to such a degree that we'll actually be inside it's diameter.
:P
Toasty.
Hopefully people will have moved on by then. Thankfully although the clock is still ticking, it has a way to go - I probly won't be around... probly.
It's worth noting that to date, the CPCC (Candian Private Copying Collective) has collected over 20 MILLION dollars due to the levy on CD-R media.
Not a single PENNY has gone to anyone except the CPCC. They havn't given any of it to anyone.
And since the levy is implemented by the government, you'd expect that we (the public) could have a look at the books... Wrong, the CPCC is more or less a private company, so they don't have to show the public what they're doing behind the scenes.
What a scam.
You are absolutely on-the-money, and it's the reason why I won't go anywhere near a big TV which claims "HD/Digital" right now.
That said, if new digital sets are crippled as much as the entertainment industry is trying to make them, I won't go near them either.
Sorry folks, I have NO problems staying with a decent analog picture if it's free.
Even if they put smartcards of some sort in TV sets, what are they going to do, tell everyone who has purchased a set that "in 6 months we'll be altering the encryption, you must now go and purchase a new card for your TV or you won't receive any signals".
Oh wait, yes, that's EXACTLY what they're going to do. And I won't have it.
The funny thing is that the entertainment industry has been absolutely whining up a storm about DVD piracy, but the fact is that DVDs are selling incredibly well (far better than VHS tapes used to), and as an added benefit, they cost less to produce.
Just goes to show the greed of the industry...
Hosted an xmas party at his house for the staff. Thought it was a pretty nice gesture. Only two problems: It's hell-and-far-gone from where I live (3 hours round-trip), and I was sick as a dog.
I didn't go. But the thought was nice.
N.
I don't like the attitude there. Too much talk about EULAs really annoys me.
I suppose the point is, the marketplace will decide. I have decided. I won't spend my money on their product.
N.
I am a true AdShield (www.adshield.org) evangelist. I have it installed on every one of my machines, and encourage friends, family and students to install it on theirs.
I will support websites by not blocking their non-animated banner ads. Everything that's animated, (especially flash), or have non-banner format graphics get blocked immediately.
Sites that try to pop something up have all of their advertising removed, regardless of the format of their ads.