You, the consumers, should have no obligation to go into contract with anyone if you don't like the conditions. But the people offering stuff have exactly the same right. So if they choose to use terms like "we have the right to fuck you in the ass if you purchase this music file" then they have every right to do so and if you accept those contracts you gonna have to put up with something you most probably don't like. But this is your CHOICE.
At least in my country, there are laws meant to protect consumers from unfair contract terms and I'm pretty sure that term would be found to be unreasonable at least in conjunction with purchased music. Mind you, selling your own ass for sex voluntarily is perfectly legal over here;)
US law does not apply in France and if Apple want to do business in France they will need to respect the local laws, which also gives them the opportunity to price and segment their offering differently. iTunes songs cost (eurosign) 0.99 in France, which is about $1.26.
The EU commission has the attitude of an angry girlfriend/wife
It's actually Microsoft who says the husband is not going to get any.
Come on, the summary does not mention the other side of the story, which is that the Commission stated that Microsoft is responsible for complying with European competition law if they want to sell their products in the EU. Commission will not hand Microsoft a compliancy waiver in advance.
I got decades of education on His work. And I figured he does not exist.
Over and out -./ is too religious for my karma to take this hit. BTW this has been posted under 'science'.
Moderators: The parent is meant to be funny and not even shooting for a "5, Interesting". Look at the linked story, it's the one about selling celerons as P4s. Dell would probably not benefit from selling fake P4 processors in the current situation.
No, I didn't miss it. I think by doing that Sony BMG just acknowledged that the claims were true. And they will continue the same business practices as soon as the dust has settled if they're not slapped, hard. Despite distancing themselves from Sony BMG, EMI is still pushing forward with their "2nd generation copy protection" as well. Just keep those lawsuits coming...
Don't let them fool you! Don't you find it even just a little bit freightening that it's those two companies who have been milking every cent from their IPR in the past are now "acquiring" Linux related patents?
The have patents on CD, DVD, DRM, FireWire, Video coding (MPEG-4 was effectively killed by licensing fees) etc, and they have been litigating the hell out of those.
And in another news, the Norwegian Government has just announced a $4bn deal with Microsoft to upgrade all Norwegian publicly owned computers to run Windows Longhorn and Office 12 with its well known open APIs and open XML based document formats.
Helsinki has seen one of the largest ever constructions in the downtown over the recent years; that started in August 2002. In this picture, the old bus terminal is still functioning. The buses were moved to the surrounding area for the duration of the the construction project, and just a month ago the current terminal located below ground level was opened. On top, there's a 7 story building with shops, restaurants and apartments.
Also the camera angle is very slanted, probably due to the satellite position being far off (Finland is quite north, yes;)
The reuters story isn't really in line with the actual pressreleases.
It does not say that Nokia is licensing Windows Media Player for phones, rather the technologies underneath, such as WMA, for achieving better interoperability with the PC. WMP10 is used as the PC frontend for the music solution they just launched.
There's going to be "support for Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) digital rights management and the MPEG Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) family of codecs in Windows Media Player via a plug-in" too to support the service.
I have a ThinkPad T41 which has a motion sensor. Works OK I guess, the UI keeps locking up for a second if I move when sitting on the couch with my T41 on my lap;)
The sensitivity is configurable, so it can be disabled too. ThinkPads have a history of breaking HDDs so that must be why it's been deployed back then.
Re:It's scarey they think that is a solution
on
Tin Foil Passports?
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· Score: 1
why does tin foil not solve the issue? well in most european countries you have to hand over your passport to get a hotel room. Presto, the passport reader can work.
Reading too much of "The Da Vinci Code" eh? As an EU citizen, I'm not even carrying a passport when I'm going to an another EU country (except UK). And I never get asked a passport when checking into a hotel, credit card is all they're interested in. Whereas when traveling to the US, one has to answer all sorts of questions (including whats the purpose of the trip and which hotel).
Open standards are often patent encumbered too. If MS had been sneakier, they would have included their IP into a truly open standard and only started asking for royalties from implementors. This is an unfortunate situation but very true. With the current state of patent laws, it's only about who has the most money to spend on researching and enforcing IPR.
Obviously you don't get out much. Why do you think people buy BMWs when they could simply mod a Honda Civic and get the same performance? It's the experience of having a damn sexy car that feels damn good to drive.
I think that this is just normal MS marketing practice to "leak" out information of an upcoming product to keep it in the headlines. Makes it more interesting when it finally ships. Just look at Longhorn, XP, 2000 (NT5 anyone?) and the rest.
That may be true, but I am reliably informed that it is a serious criminal offence in Germany to make that kind of comparison to a competitor. I presume there is no way of blocking this in Germany, so I can forsee a criminal prosecution against the Vile Monopoly.
Being that none of the radio stations are in Germany, you forsee criminal prosecution where there can be none. German courts have no more jurisdiction over this than they do over a seller of Nazi artifacts in Idaho.
Ok, but nevertheless the US has jurisdiction over others, and can demand extradition of an Australian?
WMA and AAC are roughly equivalent. There are enhancements and additional tools to AAC that allow better quality at lower end of the bitrate spectrum but over 96kbps, they are pretty evenly matched.
I believe the iTMS AAC is CBR, so the MSN service has definitely better quality. 160kbps VBR is quite optimal, since with the current advanced codecs (i.e. excluding mp3) anything more than that does not bring much of an improvement unless you're going to FLAC and friends.
It's not just VC-1/VC-9/WMV9 that is patented, also MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC include loads of patents, like most other modern and obsoleted codecs (maybe with the exception of Vorbis). The MPEG-LA is a licensing (patent) pool that tries to gather IP holders into a pool to negotiate lump sum payments for the rights. Of course, any IP holder may choose to stay out of this implementor-friendly pool and seek legal action on implementations.... which is what MS can also do with their codecs.
Developing the fancy algorithms behind codecs is expensive and at least I think that companies are entitled to protect their inventions. It's up to the standards bodies to define under what (fair) terms the IP must be licensed in order to be adopted into the specs. Some are stricter than others. I'd like to know what's the case here.
First I thought Fscking degrees. Then Freakin'. Then I remembered that I can set my timezone to this./ thingie but still it does not convert these strange units to ones used in most parts of the world. Oh well, have to resort to the google calculator...
Slashdot Mirror
At least in my country, there are laws meant to protect consumers from unfair contract terms and I'm pretty sure that term would be found to be unreasonable at least in conjunction with purchased music. Mind you, selling your own ass for sex voluntarily is perfectly legal over here ;)
US law does not apply in France and if Apple want to do business in France they will need to respect the local laws, which also gives them the opportunity to price and segment their offering differently. iTunes songs cost (eurosign) 0.99 in France, which is about $1.26.It's actually Microsoft who says the husband is not going to get any.
Come on, the summary does not mention the other side of the story, which is that the Commission stated that Microsoft is responsible for complying with European competition law if they want to sell their products in the EU. Commission will not hand Microsoft a compliancy waiver in advance.
I got decades of education on His work. And I figured he does not exist. Over and out - ./ is too religious for my karma to take this hit. BTW this has been posted under 'science'.
Who do you trust for support if not Microsoft?
Moderators: The parent is meant to be funny and not even shooting for a "5, Interesting". Look at the linked story, it's the one about selling celerons as P4s. Dell would probably not benefit from selling fake P4 processors in the current situation.
Obvious case there.
Google search
The have patents on CD, DVD, DRM, FireWire, Video coding (MPEG-4 was effectively killed by licensing fees) etc, and they have been litigating the hell out of those.
Just something to think about.
Microsoft sues the Government!
And in another news, the Norwegian Government has just announced a $4bn deal with Microsoft to upgrade all Norwegian publicly owned computers to run Windows Longhorn and Office 12 with its well known open APIs and open XML based document formats.
Also the camera angle is very slanted, probably due to the satellite position being far off (Finland is quite north, yes;)
Hey, that might be a good way to meet chicks but somehow I still have doubts about them wanting to have sex with you ;)
It does not say that Nokia is licensing Windows Media Player for phones, rather the technologies underneath, such as WMA, for achieving better interoperability with the PC. WMP10 is used as the PC frontend for the music solution they just launched.
There's going to be "support for Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) digital rights management and the MPEG Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) family of codecs in Windows Media Player via a plug-in" too to support the service.
The sensitivity is configurable, so it can be disabled too. ThinkPads have a history of breaking HDDs so that must be why it's been deployed back then.
Okay, I am browsing at +1 but still I woulda thought someone was had posted a clever enough jab at
(in addition to download != streaming).Sample 1
Sample 2
Okay, I didn't RTFA but maybe someone who has can tell me if the flying car is actually a BMW hydrogen prototype testdrive gone horribly wrong?
Open standards are often patent encumbered too. If MS had been sneakier, they would have included their IP into a truly open standard and only started asking for royalties from implementors. This is an unfortunate situation but very true. With the current state of patent laws, it's only about who has the most money to spend on researching and enforcing IPR.
I think that this is just normal MS marketing practice to "leak" out information of an upcoming product to keep it in the headlines. Makes it more interesting when it finally ships. Just look at Longhorn, XP, 2000 (NT5 anyone?) and the rest.
Anything wrong with this picture?
I believe the iTMS AAC is CBR, so the MSN service has definitely better quality. 160kbps VBR is quite optimal, since with the current advanced codecs (i.e. excluding mp3) anything more than that does not bring much of an improvement unless you're going to FLAC and friends.
Developing the fancy algorithms behind codecs is expensive and at least I think that companies are entitled to protect their inventions. It's up to the standards bodies to define under what (fair) terms the IP must be licensed in order to be adopted into the specs. Some are stricter than others. I'd like to know what's the case here.
First I thought Fscking degrees. Then Freakin'. Then I remembered that I can set my timezone to this ./ thingie but still it does not convert these strange units to ones used in most parts of the world. Oh well, have to resort to the google calculator...