Wow, I have no response to such witty, thought provoking, eloquent, and humourous response from an anonymous coward. I will now go and slit my wrists as you commanded.
Yoda of Borg : The Borg, we are. Assimilated, you will be. Futile, resistance is. Luke Skywalker : OMG, Yoda was assimilated by MAFIAA of Borg. What can we do Obi-Wan.
After Verizon sued Vonage for patent infringement I thought maybe they infringed on their patent. Once Sprint and AT&T sued it is looking more likely there is patent pooling going on between at least three corporations. This is nothing new as the American Graphophone Company (Columbia) and the Victor Talking Machine Co. had pooled their patents on the lateral cut method of recording in an attempt to monopolize the market over 100 years ago. IF the courts had the mindset of today back in 1922, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals would not have held the Victor patent void for lack of invention and for abandonment and the entire music industry would be only owned by two businesses today.
I do hope I am wrong about the courts and they do eventually find in favor of Vonage.
[sarcasm]Wow, I never thought I would ever see the polar opposite of Twitter posting on Slashdot[/sarcasm]
All sarcasm aside, the sales for systems with Ubuntu will not fall. I think Dell made the correct decision on this. Creative is committed to releasing drivers for their X-Fi line of soundcards. When more computer manufacturers start selling systems with any distribution of GNU/Linux, more applications (both closed and open source) will be made for GNU/Linux. The support for hardware will also increase. Although Vista isn't a failure yet, Microsoft needs to fix all of the bugs otherwise it will be a failure. That is how they need to compete, not using FUD as if they were related to Twitter or something.
Now that GNU/Linux has just about matured for the home market it will be a viable competitor and hopefully this will cause Microsoft to wake up and continue to improve their products such as Vista.
Actually, there are those who are waiting for the first service pack. You constantly compare Windows Vista to Windows ME. Windows ME was a failure for sure. It was unstable and vulnerable to numerous attacks. Windows XP is extremely stable and IMO secure, however it wasn't always that way. No operating system is 100% secure. It would be wise to wait a few years before considering it a failure. Who knows what will happen in the next couple years.
As for free software, free does not always mean it is the better choice. Which is the better choice between Photoshop and the GIMP? That depends on who uses it. Some will consider the Gimp to be better while others will consider Photoshop to be better. Some will even consider neither one to be any good and use Paint Shop Pro. Although I prefer to use Photoshop CS3 as it does what I need it to do, I will still use Gimp portable when I need to.
BTW, I haven't called you any names, but yet you seem to call people stupid and use childish names such as Windoze and M$. You are no different than those who call GNU/Linux "Linsux" or anyone that uses it "Retarded Slashdot Sheeple"
it seems just as likely (if not more) to me that people simply don't care.
and asks is Sony and M$ have suffered for their bad behavior. The answer is an unmitigated "Yes". Not only have those companies suffered, the entire industry around them has taken a beating. People don't like being ripped off.
In the Sony case, CD sales are down even further than might be expected by the lack of new releases and general crapitude of traditional broadcasting. The industry's reputation could not be lower right now and people are really turned off. Music and entertainment are all about sharing. People want nothing to do with digital restrictions.
In the M$ case, Vista is a huge failure that's sucking down hardware sales. At the six month mark, retail sales of Vista trail XP by 60%. Big IT might start rolling it out in three years. People are sick of bloated crap and want nothing to do with digital restrictions.
Did I mention that people want nothing to do with digital restrictions? Business as usual is no longer good enough, and digital restrictions are even worse.
"Damage control" can't hide the real nature of the power grab that big media is trying to pull and meatier methods have backfired entirely. No one wants the future to be even more restrictive than paper and broadcast were. The future people really want is what you see at YouTube, Wikipedia and the free software world in general. People want to share, information wants to be free and corporate dickwads are just going to have to learn how to make an honest living. The harder the dickheads push, the worse it gets. They might have been able to keep playing games with non free software and hardware, but the lawsuits against innocent people turned the issue into the stuff revolutions are made of: they threatened the very prosperity that would ordinarily lead to the complacency media shits hope will save them. Free software advocates have been handed wonderful weapons in the promotion of Free Culture. Just owning non free media and software can now cost you your house and life savings. They might as well try to sell rusty cylinders of nerve gas and promote it with lottery based arson for their best customers.
Vista is a failure? I wasn't aware they stopped selling Vista. As I pointed out before, I am waiting to see how the first service pack turns out. I waited to purchase Windows XP till it was out for a few years. No operating system is perfect. I don't have time to talk about the rest of your rant.
If you count not just web servers, but e.g. intranet Exchange servers and AD controllers, 70% sounds plausible.
LAN numbers are not really on M$'s side, even within dumb companies. Outside of dumb companies, gnu/linux rules. If you count every desktop with a "shared folder" you might get to 70% within a specific company. M$ does not want to go there because they would like you to believe in asymmetrical computing, where others have power and you do not. If you include embedded devices with web servers, the M$ share goes to ten percent. Within every big dumb company running a windoze server with all the lock-in trimmings, you will find six or seven system administrators who run a normal *nix computer because they can, hundreds of WAPs, printers and other devices that people expect to be able to talk to because they must. In the world at large, free software rules because no one in their right mind would blow all sorts of money of a M$ solution when they can get a free one. The kinds of junk hardware these servers run on and their superior reliability completely deflates the M$ meme of asymmetrical computing and most other non free propaganda.
First you call Microsoft "M$" and Windows "Windoze" since you don't like the business nor the product, now you call anyone who uses Windows or anyone who disagrees with you stupid? That is just as immature as someone calling Linux "Linsux", Open Source "Open Sores", and anyone who disagrees with them some sort of retarded sheeple.
First of all, IIS 7.0 is very secure. The choice of using either Windows with IIS or Gnu/Linux with Apache is really like a choice between Coke or Pepsi, it all depends on someone's taste, need, or want. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Information_Services
Second, Vista is a long way from being a failure like Windows ME. Windows ME didn't even have a service pack. If I am not mistaken, Windows ME was actually just another version of Windows 98. I do agree that it would be wise to hold off on anyone purchasing or upgrading to Vista since it is a new Operating System. I did just that with XP. I will wait to see how well Service pack 1 performs when it rolls out before I purchase Vista.
BTW, free isn't always better. It is still up to the eye of the beholder. For example, if The GIMP works for you then that is wonderful. I have used The GIMP and it is a great for being free, but it doesn't do everything I need it to do. There are thing in Paint Shop Pro 7 and Photoshop the GIMP doesn't even do yet. That is why I purchased the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Professional, it does what I need it to do.
Some advice, when you want to put your point across please do so without using immature sayings such as M$ and Windoze and lose the FUD, you will find your karma raising back to at least normal.
don't act like security is the reason you're not on Windows and that you have to keep it separate from the net; I've had the same Windows XP install running for over a year and it runs as well as when I installed it, and there's no spyware.
It's sad that you would think a year is something to brag about. Having worked retail repair within the last three years, I can safely say you are a liar. People got creamed way faster than that and things have only gotten worse. Having to go through the pain of a Winblows reinstall every year is not acceptable for most people. Computers are a durable good and people expect them to last longer than a pair of flip flops.
Vista is no better and people are bolting for the exits labled "Linux" and "Mac".
I have Windows XP SP2 Installed on my machine and I have only had to reinstall it once, and that from a choice I made as I had a major hardware upgrade. I could have kept the current install of XP on there, but I felt it would be better to do so. I haven't had any trouble out of XP, of course I use Mozilla Firefox as my web browser.
I do have to agree about Vista. Vista is a joke IMO, but who knows what will happen once service pack one and two are both released. Vista could improve, or it could just go downhill.
You are correct on Ron Paul's chance of winning for the wrong reason. Ron Paul does indeed have a low probability of winning. The reason is he is a moderate 'small l' libertarian Republican. Conservative Republicans won't like that as he wouldn't be conservative, while the leftist Democrats won't like him as he is a Republican and he is not a leftist. The problem I see with Mike Gravel is he is way too far to the left. Heck He is further than Hillary Clinton. Any further to the left and he will be touching Rush Limbaugh who is on the extreme right, which makes him much more scary.
Personally, I prefer to vote for anyone closest to the middle. I don't care which party they are running under because the party affiliation does not matter. Heck, Republican Governor Schwarzenegger is actually more to the left than the former Democratic Governor Grey Davis.
What's funny is this branch of this thread has come full circle - the OP making fun of old people always saying "It was better in my day!", and now a serious post declaring "That crap you're listening to isn't music!"
I'm pretty sure my dad's parents said the same thing to him when they heard him playing the Beatles. In fact, I know they did, because I used that story he told me against him when he complained about me playing The Cult in the late 80's.
Face it, you've fallen victim to the most tired, played-out cliche ever - absolutely every generation believes as teenagers that they're listening to the best music ever, and when they're old, they declare current music is "crap", and it happened in the 1920's, in the 1950's, and you get the idea.
That's funny, I actually like some of today's music. I admit the 1980s are the best but I am not limited to the 1980s. I even know a few others that were children of the 80s that loved older music and some newer music as well.
BTW, a lot of today's music is lousy. A lot of today's junk is cookie cutter crap. Another tired, played-out cliche is only the newest music released is worth listening to.
I actually own an iPod mini and use iTunes. It isn't too bad. As for being tied into iTune, that statement is false. Rockbox, an Open-Source firmware replacement for the apple iPod. With the update you can copy your music using it as you would any normal USB drive. http://www.rockbox.org/
The Macintosh doesn't require for you to use their Operating System, and it is their OS so they have every right to run it on their own system. I don't see anything wrong with a Macintosh, it isn't my cup of tea. It is like Coke vs Pepsi vs RC. I may prefer Coke(Windows) while someone else may like Linux(RC) or Mac-OS (Pepsi). It is a matter of taste or functionality.
I don't know much about the iPhone but I highly doubt Cingular/AT&T is the worst, if you have tried Sprint PCS then you may backtrack on that statement. With Sprint I can barely go within a building without dropped calls. Heck I could have full signal strength and have a dropped call because the signal strength drops down to zero.
Why? So we could all be stuck with ugly Zune that use crappy MS-Only DRM? No thanks. I am sure there are more than the selections from Apple and Microsoft. Here are the players that support FLAC and OGG on top of supporting MP3 and/or WMA.
Flash Storage
iAudio U3, U2, G3, 5, G2
Meizu M6 miniPlayer
HardDisk Storage
Cowon iAudio M3, M5, X5, A2, 6
iRiver's iHP-1xx, H1xx, H2xx, H3xx, iGP-100
Rio's Karma
TrekStor's iBeat 500, iBeat 300, vibez
Some may not be available new, but a lot are available used through EBay. No one has to go through iTunes nor Microsoft's service to purchase music. There are still many other sources to get music. The following are but a few of the sources available.
Copy from Analogue sources such as Cassette, 8-Track, Records - can be copied to any format you choose
CDs are still available - can be copied to any format you choose
Various Websites such as DMusic, magnatunes, emusic.com, etc. have music from independent artists.
Even the website modarchive.com has some wonderful music to download. All that is needed is the software to convert it to any format you choose
If you are into music from the 1920s, starrgennett.org has some music for sale from the old Gennett label.
I do agree the iPod is a good portable music player and far better than the Zune. A lot of the sources for music can also be used for the iPod. The problem with the Zune is it is only compatiblity. The DRM comes in when someone shares the music "3-day or 3-plays, whichever comes first." Universal may be deciding against renewing on iTunes because this DRM plus Apple wanting less DRM. I would say it is about time we boycott anything by Universal, including their theme parks. Universal has a long history of being the bully so I highly doubt they will change.
Would that mean most if any students that are allegedly copying music will have to pay $150K for each infringement? Looks like there will be some students that will have to pay for the rest of their lives over copying music.
<sarcasm> Isn't it wonderful our courts are trying the real criminals instead of the murderers?</sarcasm>
I had trouble with ink drying with an ink jet as I don't print that often. Last year I Office Max had a HP Colour Laserjet 2600n for $300. The print quality is better than an inkjet unless you are talking about photos. The quality for photos still isn't too bad. Still I didn't need to use a printer for that since I use Meijer for all of my digital photos.
Another plus is the printer uses four separate toner cartridges, CMYK. That alone helps especially later on when the cyan, magenta, yellow, or black run out I can replace 1 colour instead of a cartridge that still has ink since most ink jets combine all colours except black into one cartridge. Some even have no black.
In roughly one year I haven't had a nickel's worth of trouble out of my printer and I still have plenty of toner.
If you feel inkjet is for you, more power to you and I am glad you are satisfied with ink jet technology. I am definitely satisfied with a $300 colour laser printer.
Let's see, when the promise was made there was GTE, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, QWEST, and Ameritech. Today SBC, Bell South, and AT&T merged to become AT&T. GTE and Bell Atlantic merged to become Verizon. MCI is owned by Verizon. So it is now just Qwest, AT&T, and Verizon. I have to admit I prefer Verizon over GTE. Before they merged GTE in Richmond Indiana offered very little in features. It was after they merged to become Verizon that several changes were made.
Insight Broadband offers 10Mbps which is one of the highest in the nation, behind FiOS. The problem is Comcast will operate a good portion of the area that is being serviced by Insight. Who knows how long it will remain at 10Mbps, but most likely they will have a download cap for sure.
Unfortunately they are continually merging as they have ever since the promises were made in the early 1990s. So much for breaking up AT&T as it looks like the monopoly could return with a vengeance.
Since they have very little competition they have no incentive to upgrade the technology. They really should consider getting on the ball about upgrading the infrastructure to allow a 45Mbps connection as it will allow for them to compete with the cable monopoly in terms of television, internet access, and phone service.
Another problem is the people that refuse to get DSL since it is cheaper in their eyes that dial-up is cheaper. Yes there are people that continue to feel dial-up is all they will ever need even if offered a 45Mbps at the same price.
The problem is not really from Microsoft, but the MAFIAA. If they had their way we wouldn't even had VCRs. With technology today we can record the movies off of HBO, trim the video and redistribute it and/or save it. Their solution to that? Attempt people from copying it to begin with. That is why WMC is restricting it, not because they want to but because they have to. Otherwise the MAFIAA would collectively sue the pants off of Microsoft and go all the way to win big.
democrats are lesser of the two evils. they can waver when screwing people behind their back, but republicans rarely do. i doubt that mafiaa and shitaa ever needs to bribe republicans as they do dems. Then with a Democratic controlled congress and a Republican president why are the approval ratings of two of the three branches of the federal government facing the lowest approval ratings in history? http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27589
That tells me people are fed up with both major parties, not just one of them. I see corruption on both sides of the aisle. Truthfully I don't see any difference between the Republicans and the Democrats anymore.
"anything good for business is good" - this is the logic. see where this leads. People are going to be slaves to "intellectual property holder" elite, a new class of elite. LIFETIME imprisonment. DMCA takedowns - get a load of that - what a way to suppress free speech if need be.
act now. blow your congressman's/senator's ear off. The DMCA was a law crated by Orrin Hatch, supported by both major parties, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
The CBDTPA was created by Fritz Hollings of Dis^h^h^hSouth Carolina, fortunately didn't pass. There are members of both parties that support the special interests of the MAFIAA.
Moral of the story: Never vote for the party Be careful of who you vote for Vote for candidates of several parties, not just the major two.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, I have no response to such witty, thought provoking, eloquent, and humourous response from an anonymous coward. I will now go and slit my wrists as you commanded.
Yoda of Borg : The Borg, we are. Assimilated, you will be. Futile, resistance is.
Luke Skywalker : OMG, Yoda was assimilated by MAFIAA of Borg. What can we do Obi-Wan.
And the winner for the higest usage of the F-Bomb in a single post goes to - Twitter!
;)
Windows is just a tool like GNU/Linux and MacOS X so relax otherwise you may suffer a stroke form all of that stress.
After Verizon sued Vonage for patent infringement I thought maybe they infringed on their patent. Once Sprint and AT&T sued it is looking more likely there is patent pooling going on between at least three corporations. This is nothing new as the American Graphophone Company (Columbia) and the Victor Talking Machine Co. had pooled their patents on the lateral cut method of recording in an attempt to monopolize the market over 100 years ago. IF the courts had the mindset of today back in 1922, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals would not have held the Victor patent void for lack of invention and for abandonment and the entire music industry would be only owned by two businesses today.
I do hope I am wrong about the courts and they do eventually find in favor of Vonage.
[sarcasm]Wow, I never thought I would ever see the polar opposite of Twitter posting on Slashdot[/sarcasm]
All sarcasm aside, the sales for systems with Ubuntu will not fall. I think Dell made the correct decision on this. Creative is committed to releasing drivers for their X-Fi line of soundcards. When more computer manufacturers start selling systems with any distribution of GNU/Linux, more applications (both closed and open source) will be made for GNU/Linux. The support for hardware will also increase. Although Vista isn't a failure yet, Microsoft needs to fix all of the bugs otherwise it will be a failure. That is how they need to compete, not using FUD as if they were related to Twitter or something.
Now that GNU/Linux has just about matured for the home market it will be a viable competitor and hopefully this will cause Microsoft to wake up and continue to improve their products such as Vista.
FUD is all they have.
In a nutshell, twitter wrote Hello Kettle, I'm Pot and you're blackActually, there are those who are waiting for the first service pack. You constantly compare Windows Vista to Windows ME. Windows ME was a failure for sure. It was unstable and vulnerable to numerous attacks. Windows XP is extremely stable and IMO secure, however it wasn't always that way. No operating system is 100% secure. It would be wise to wait a few years before considering it a failure. Who knows what will happen in the next couple years.
As for free software, free does not always mean it is the better choice. Which is the better choice between Photoshop and the GIMP? That depends on who uses it. Some will consider the Gimp to be better while others will consider Photoshop to be better. Some will even consider neither one to be any good and use Paint Shop Pro. Although I prefer to use Photoshop CS3 as it does what I need it to do, I will still use Gimp portable when I need to.
BTW, I haven't called you any names, but yet you seem to call people stupid and use childish names such as Windoze and M$. You are no different than those who call GNU/Linux "Linsux" or anyone that uses it "Retarded Slashdot Sheeple"
radarjd dreams of infinite public gullibility:
it seems just as likely (if not more) to me that people simply don't care.
and asks is Sony and M$ have suffered for their bad behavior. The answer is an unmitigated "Yes". Not only have those companies suffered, the entire industry around them has taken a beating. People don't like being ripped off.
In the Sony case, CD sales are down even further than might be expected by the lack of new releases and general crapitude of traditional broadcasting. The industry's reputation could not be lower right now and people are really turned off. Music and entertainment are all about sharing. People want nothing to do with digital restrictions.
In the M$ case, Vista is a huge failure that's sucking down hardware sales. At the six month mark, retail sales of Vista trail XP by 60%. Big IT might start rolling it out in three years. People are sick of bloated crap and want nothing to do with digital restrictions.
Did I mention that people want nothing to do with digital restrictions? Business as usual is no longer good enough, and digital restrictions are even worse.
"Damage control" can't hide the real nature of the power grab that big media is trying to pull and meatier methods have backfired entirely. No one wants the future to be even more restrictive than paper and broadcast were. The future people really want is what you see at YouTube, Wikipedia and the free software world in general. People want to share, information wants to be free and corporate dickwads are just going to have to learn how to make an honest living. The harder the dickheads push, the worse it gets. They might have been able to keep playing games with non free software and hardware, but the lawsuits against innocent people turned the issue into the stuff revolutions are made of: they threatened the very prosperity that would ordinarily lead to the complacency media shits hope will save them. Free software advocates have been handed wonderful weapons in the promotion of Free Culture. Just owning non free media and software can now cost you your house and life savings. They might as well try to sell rusty cylinders of nerve gas and promote it with lottery based arson for their best customers.
Vista is a failure? I wasn't aware they stopped selling Vista. As I pointed out before, I am waiting to see how the first service pack turns out. I waited to purchase Windows XP till it was out for a few years. No operating system is perfect. I don't have time to talk about the rest of your rant.If you count not just web servers, but e.g. intranet Exchange servers and AD controllers, 70% sounds plausible.
LAN numbers are not really on M$'s side, even within dumb companies. Outside of dumb companies, gnu/linux rules. If you count every desktop with a "shared folder" you might get to 70% within a specific company. M$ does not want to go there because they would like you to believe in asymmetrical computing, where others have power and you do not. If you include embedded devices with web servers, the M$ share goes to ten percent. Within every big dumb company running a windoze server with all the lock-in trimmings, you will find six or seven system administrators who run a normal *nix computer because they can, hundreds of WAPs, printers and other devices that people expect to be able to talk to because they must. In the world at large, free software rules because no one in their right mind would blow all sorts of money of a M$ solution when they can get a free one. The kinds of junk hardware these servers run on and their superior reliability completely deflates the M$ meme of asymmetrical computing and most other non free propaganda.
First you call Microsoft "M$" and Windows "Windoze" since you don't like the business nor the product, now you call anyone who uses Windows or anyone who disagrees with you stupid? That is just as immature as someone calling Linux "Linsux", Open Source "Open Sores", and anyone who disagrees with them some sort of retarded sheeple.First of all, IIS 7.0 is very secure. The choice of using either Windows with IIS or Gnu/Linux with Apache is really like a choice between Coke or Pepsi, it all depends on someone's taste, need, or want.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Information_Services
Second, Vista is a long way from being a failure like Windows ME. Windows ME didn't even have a service pack. If I am not mistaken, Windows ME was actually just another version of Windows 98. I do agree that it would be wise to hold off on anyone purchasing or upgrading to Vista since it is a new Operating System. I did just that with XP. I will wait to see how well Service pack 1 performs when it rolls out before I purchase Vista.
BTW, free isn't always better. It is still up to the eye of the beholder. For example, if The GIMP works for you then that is wonderful. I have used The GIMP and it is a great for being free, but it doesn't do everything I need it to do. There are thing in Paint Shop Pro 7 and Photoshop the GIMP doesn't even do yet. That is why I purchased the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Professional, it does what I need it to do.
Some advice, when you want to put your point across please do so without using immature sayings such as M$ and Windoze and lose the FUD, you will find your karma raising back to at least normal.
don't act like security is the reason you're not on Windows and that you have to keep it separate from the net; I've had the same Windows XP install running for over a year and it runs as well as when I installed it, and there's no spyware.
It's sad that you would think a year is something to brag about. Having worked retail repair within the last three years, I can safely say you are a liar. People got creamed way faster than that and things have only gotten worse. Having to go through the pain of a Winblows reinstall every year is not acceptable for most people. Computers are a durable good and people expect them to last longer than a pair of flip flops.
Vista is no better and people are bolting for the exits labled "Linux" and "Mac".
I have Windows XP SP2 Installed on my machine and I have only had to reinstall it once, and that from a choice I made as I had a major hardware upgrade. I could have kept the current install of XP on there, but I felt it would be better to do so. I haven't had any trouble out of XP, of course I use Mozilla Firefox as my web browser.I do have to agree about Vista. Vista is a joke IMO, but who knows what will happen once service pack one and two are both released. Vista could improve, or it could just go downhill.
You are correct on Ron Paul's chance of winning for the wrong reason. Ron Paul does indeed have a low probability of winning. The reason is he is a moderate 'small l' libertarian Republican. Conservative Republicans won't like that as he wouldn't be conservative, while the leftist Democrats won't like him as he is a Republican and he is not a leftist. The problem I see with Mike Gravel is he is way too far to the left. Heck He is further than Hillary Clinton. Any further to the left and he will be touching Rush Limbaugh who is on the extreme right, which makes him much more scary.
http://issues2000.org/TX/Ron_Paul.htm
http://issues2000.org/Mike_Gravel.htm
Personally, I prefer to vote for anyone closest to the middle. I don't care which party they are running under because the party affiliation does not matter. Heck, Republican Governor Schwarzenegger is actually more to the left than the former Democratic Governor Grey Davis.
I'm pretty sure my dad's parents said the same thing to him when they heard him playing the Beatles. In fact, I know they did, because I used that story he told me against him when he complained about me playing The Cult in the late 80's.
That's funny, I actually like some of today's music. I admit the 1980s are the best but I am not limited to the 1980s. I even know a few others that were children of the 80s that loved older music and some newer music as well.Face it, you've fallen victim to the most tired, played-out cliche ever - absolutely every generation believes as teenagers that they're listening to the best music ever, and when they're old, they declare current music is "crap", and it happened in the 1920's, in the 1950's, and you get the idea.
BTW, a lot of today's music is lousy. A lot of today's junk is cookie cutter crap. Another tired, played-out cliche is only the newest music released is worth listening to.
Mr Chips is that you? ;)
*me ducks*
I actually own an iPod mini and use iTunes. It isn't too bad. As for being tied into iTune, that statement is false. Rockbox, an Open-Source firmware replacement for the apple iPod. With the update you can copy your music using it as you would any normal USB drive.
http://www.rockbox.org/
The Macintosh doesn't require for you to use their Operating System, and it is their OS so they have every right to run it on their own system. I don't see anything wrong with a Macintosh, it isn't my cup of tea. It is like Coke vs Pepsi vs RC. I may prefer Coke(Windows) while someone else may like Linux(RC) or Mac-OS (Pepsi). It is a matter of taste or functionality.
I don't know much about the iPhone but I highly doubt Cingular/AT&T is the worst, if you have tried Sprint PCS then you may backtrack on that statement. With Sprint I can barely go within a building without dropped calls. Heck I could have full signal strength and have a dropped call because the signal strength drops down to zero.
Here are the players that support FLAC and OGG on top of supporting MP3 and/or WMA.
Flash Storage
HardDisk Storage
Some may not be available new, but a lot are available used through EBay. No one has to go through iTunes nor Microsoft's service to purchase music. There are still many other sources to get music. The following are but a few of the sources available.
I do agree the iPod is a good portable music player and far better than the Zune. A lot of the sources for music can also be used for the iPod. The problem with the Zune is it is only compatiblity. The DRM comes in when someone shares the music "3-day or 3-plays, whichever comes first." Universal may be deciding against renewing on iTunes because this DRM plus Apple wanting less DRM. I would say it is about time we boycott anything by Universal, including their theme parks. Universal has a long history of being the bully so I highly doubt they will change.
I think his name is actually Michael Rush-Moore Limbaugh. ;)
*me ducks*
[Would that mean any students that are allegedly copying music will have to pay $150K for each infringement?]
*note to self, don't talk on the phone while posting on Slashdot*
Would that mean most if any students that are allegedly copying music will have to pay $150K for each infringement? Looks like there will be some students that will have to pay for the rest of their lives over copying music.
<sarcasm> Isn't it wonderful our courts are trying the real criminals instead of the murderers?</sarcasm>
I had trouble with ink drying with an ink jet as I don't print that often. Last year I Office Max had a HP Colour Laserjet 2600n for $300. The print quality is better than an inkjet unless you are talking about photos. The quality for photos still isn't too bad. Still I didn't need to use a printer for that since I use Meijer for all of my digital photos.
Another plus is the printer uses four separate toner cartridges, CMYK. That alone helps especially later on when the cyan, magenta, yellow, or black run out I can replace 1 colour instead of a cartridge that still has ink since most ink jets combine all colours except black into one cartridge. Some even have no black.
In roughly one year I haven't had a nickel's worth of trouble out of my printer and I still have plenty of toner.
If you feel inkjet is for you, more power to you and I am glad you are satisfied with ink jet technology. I am definitely satisfied with a $300 colour laser printer.
Let's see, when the promise was made there was GTE, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, QWEST, and Ameritech. Today SBC, Bell South, and AT&T merged to become AT&T. GTE and Bell Atlantic merged to become Verizon. MCI is owned by Verizon. So it is now just Qwest, AT&T, and Verizon. I have to admit I prefer Verizon over GTE. Before they merged GTE in Richmond Indiana offered very little in features. It was after they merged to become Verizon that several changes were made.
Insight Broadband offers 10Mbps which is one of the highest in the nation, behind FiOS. The problem is Comcast will operate a good portion of the area that is being serviced by Insight. Who knows how long it will remain at 10Mbps, but most likely they will have a download cap for sure.
Unfortunately they are continually merging as they have ever since the promises were made in the early 1990s. So much for breaking up AT&T as it looks like the monopoly could return with a vengeance.
Since they have very little competition they have no incentive to upgrade the technology. They really should consider getting on the ball about upgrading the infrastructure to allow a 45Mbps connection as it will allow for them to compete with the cable monopoly in terms of television, internet access, and phone service.
Another problem is the people that refuse to get DSL since it is cheaper in their eyes that dial-up is cheaper. Yes there are people that continue to feel dial-up is all they will ever need even if offered a 45Mbps at the same price.
Actually benzene is a known carcinogen; exposure to it has been shown to cause leukemia. It is also believed to cause tumors in animals and possibly in humans. Major human exposures occur in gassing vehicles and as a result of vaporization of gas from car fuel tanks in garages, where the benzene seeps into attached homes. Other health effects of long-term exposure include damage to the blood-forming organs, enough to cause death (aplastic anemia), and drying and scaling of the skin. Benzene exposure is also associated with chromosomal damage.
AFAIK, water doesn't cause cancer. If it did it would be the chemicals in the water and not the water itself.
Actually it should be "Attempt to prevent people from copying"
;)
Note to self, never post right after getting up in the morning.
The problem is not really from Microsoft, but the MAFIAA. If they had their way we wouldn't even had VCRs. With technology today we can record the movies off of HBO, trim the video and redistribute it and/or save it. Their solution to that? Attempt people from copying it to begin with. That is why WMC is restricting it, not because they want to but because they have to. Otherwise the MAFIAA would collectively sue the pants off of Microsoft and go all the way to win big.
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27589
That tells me people are fed up with both major parties, not just one of them. I see corruption on both sides of the aisle. Truthfully I don't see any difference between the Republicans and the Democrats anymore.
act now. blow your congressman's/senator's ear off. The DMCA was a law crated by Orrin Hatch, supported by both major parties, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
The CBDTPA was created by Fritz Hollings of Dis^h^h^hSouth Carolina, fortunately didn't pass.
There are members of both parties that support the special interests of the MAFIAA.
Moral of the story:
Never vote for the party
Be careful of who you vote for
Vote for candidates of several parties, not just the major two.