They should make a law saying that NO format can be protected from basic fair use rights. They are called rights for a reason. It would be like a car being chipped from the manufacturer where you could not open the hood unless you were a certified technician with all the bells and whistles of a fancy computer they use at the dealership.
They're trying to get you to play their game, which they are very good at. And the law is stacked in their favor. Its like entering an arm wrestling contest with Vegita. And the law says you have to be a wimp, or you can't do it. Like the odds?
You have more of a chance of beating Vegita in arm wrestling than you do getting Microsoft to have an eskimo pie and let you play with your hardware that you bought fair and square without hassle. They're trying to make it to where PCs are under their control, too...
Ten bucks says that the US companies are lobbying to jack up the fine (its not a tax, its a fine) or add another one.
I can see that you're buying a car. Now, we've just added this drugrunning and speeding fines, because you Americans like to do those. That'll be $5000 extra, please. Oh, I know..you probably don't run drugs or speed much, but you MIGHT, so we have to fine you.
If I took you to court and said, "This man over here stole $4000 worth of music from my music collection. Pay me right now for damages." they might consider it, but what if I told them by stealing I mean that you took my CDs, copied them, MP3'd them, and then returned them without any kind of damage? Now is it stupid to ask for their full value?
Now what if I said that instead of my entire music collection, you owe me 50 times the price I paid for them. I'd be laughed out of the courtroom and cornholed by the baliff for making him miss McGuyver.
But its all good if you're a company, because God knows whatever a company says has been well researched, thought out, and their word should be taken over mine at all times.
I don't know if this is a good idea or not. They are right in patents leading to a dead end. Eventually you won't be able to code anything without violating a patent and opening yourself up to lawsuit. At least, if the software companies had it their way...
Its no longer about innovation. Its about a landgrab. "Method for drawing on screen graphics using a video device." for example. That is a lot of land! It would be like me laying claim to area enough to cover six of today's states back in the days of western expansion.
Imagine it.
Pay-per-boot Windows. Now you have no excuse not to pay for it if you want to use it. Why pay $500 now when you can pay $5 per reboot?
Lets take it a bit furthur down the slippery slope. "You may only use Sony products on your PS4. If you use anything else, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This includes cables, TVs, a desk stand, sound systems, accessories, software, hardware, and anything else that might be used in conjuction with your Playstation 4. This is to ensure that you have no problems and are satisfied with your product."
One person dying from lack of blood is better than 1,000 people dying from a brand-spankin-new epidemic that they were infected with 5 years ago but didn't know it.
Google takes a lot of pride in what they do. If people are complaining that they can't compete, maybe they should stop playing Google's game.
I mean, who's stupid enough to start a search engine and try to lure people to theirs whenever Google's is both established, has years of talent behind it, and millions in funding and then complain that they can't compete?
I mean it would be like me trying to write an OS for x86 hardware right now and complaining that Microsoft is making life difficult because no one will pay me for it or invest in me.
The problem with stem cells is that conditions must be met for those cells to become differentiated cells.
Take a skin-type stem cell. It will have to have some kind of trigger to tell it to turn into a skin cell and not say..a nerve cell that attaches to the skin, or an oil-producing-cell, etc. These triggers are tiny, have to be given at the right time, and probably won't be easy to produce.
Its like having a batch of nano-goop that will eat the resources available and turn itself into an object, but you have to find out how to tell it that, by hand.
PMSing girl takes aspirin, gets yelled at by teacher, throws bottle down and storms off, gets arrested and questioned about her dealer, because they didn't specify WHAT drug she had, and it was hours until the police found out it was aspirin.
She got expelled and is currently living in a trailer with two kids jobless because no one wants to give a job to someone they heard about on the news that threw drugs at a teacher.
Lets assume that this game is $30 a month. On average, $1 a day. Say it takes you 2 weeks of playing to get this sword. That's about $14. Losing this sword, in RIAA-esque economy terms, has just cost you $14.
Of course you know its much more than that. Finding something that good gives you a sense of accomplisment and joy.
The point is, he didn't do it fairly. A bot did it. From the sound of it, if you walked up and attacked his bot, you'd be owned with no chance of survival.
I don't know if this falls under civil or criminal code. On one hand, its just a game. On the other hand, so is blackjack, but its a crime to cheat someone out of money.
Needed a doctor's visit for severe nausea. Some kind of food poisoning or something. My mom got it too. We both went to the doctor. Both got the same medication. Same doctor.
Difference? She, with insurance, came to a total of $100. She only had to pay like $20, and insurance covered the other $80.
Me, without insurance, had to pay $250. Same visit, same doctor, same medication.
Let me tell you, if they have time to sit around and monitor users internet access all day, they are not doing their job.
You have a lot of responsibilities at that job, and one wrong step and everyone's clamoring for your resignation.
Consequently, she refused to use filtering software. Mainly because it was easy to get around and way too restrictive. Monitoring the internet usage should be done by the assistant librarians, but the head librarian is more worried about other stuff, like you know, making sure the library stays open.
Hell, Microsoft's just trying to get whatever loose patent they can get so they can selectively use it to pressure their competitors.
You can always tell if Microsoft is sweating because of you if they take out a patent on something you've built as soon as you issue the first press release.
I know plenty of parents that are the same way. I never once received a sex, drugs, alcohol, etc, etc 'talk'. Had I not grown up to be semi-intelligent, I'd probably have ended up a meth head or with hepatits after baging the local Debra the Deep.
It makes a world of difference when your parents talk about it. Its the same thing as asking your supervisor about something that could potentially get you killed at work and they just shrug and move on. It leaves you with a feeling of doubt, an unsteady sinking feeling. Even if they aren't asking, you know they question.
Employer: We need a blood sample for genetic testing, a credit report, a drug test, and a background check before we turn you loose to serve our customers their food.
Potential Employee: Sure, just let me in your corporate accounting section for a few hours. I'll do my research to make sure its worth my time and effort to work with you. Also, I'll need the names of all your current and past employees. Thank you drive through.
Someday a company will try to patent something truly innovative, and be denied. The following week, someone from a larger company with more money will patent the same idea. Not just the same idea, but a copy/pasted version of the original submission.
The company that lost the patent might be slightly mentally unstable, and totally blast the bigger company into the ground with explosives, mercenaries, gang fights, etc. And when its all said and done, we'll know who's fault it was.
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They should make a law saying that NO format can be protected from basic fair use rights. They are called rights for a reason. It would be like a car being chipped from the manufacturer where you could not open the hood unless you were a certified technician with all the bells and whistles of a fancy computer they use at the dealership.
This man speaks truth.
They're trying to get you to play their game, which they are very good at. And the law is stacked in their favor. Its like entering an arm wrestling contest with Vegita. And the law says you have to be a wimp, or you can't do it. Like the odds?
You have more of a chance of beating Vegita in arm wrestling than you do getting Microsoft to have an eskimo pie and let you play with your hardware that you bought fair and square without hassle. They're trying to make it to where PCs are under their control, too...
This is bad.
Ten bucks says that the US companies are lobbying to jack up the fine (its not a tax, its a fine) or add another one.
I can see that you're buying a car. Now, we've just added this drugrunning and speeding fines, because you Americans like to do those. That'll be $5000 extra, please. Oh, I know..you probably don't run drugs or speed much, but you MIGHT, so we have to fine you.
Point is, physical laws on an electronic medium.
If I took you to court and said, "This man over here stole $4000 worth of music from my music collection. Pay me right now for damages." they might consider it, but what if I told them by stealing I mean that you took my CDs, copied them, MP3'd them, and then returned them without any kind of damage? Now is it stupid to ask for their full value?
Now what if I said that instead of my entire music collection, you owe me 50 times the price I paid for them. I'd be laughed out of the courtroom and cornholed by the baliff for making him miss McGuyver.
But its all good if you're a company, because God knows whatever a company says has been well researched, thought out, and their word should be taken over mine at all times.
FEMA: How can we help you today?
Thug: Uum. I want free money.
FEMA: Ok, were you in New Orleans and lost everything?
Thug: Yep.
FEMA: Ok, where did you live?
Thug: My house was destroyed.
FEMA: Ok, we'll write that check right now.
Thug: Make it out to Achmed Hamed. I'm in Nigeria.
I don't know if this is a good idea or not. They are right in patents leading to a dead end. Eventually you won't be able to code anything without violating a patent and opening yourself up to lawsuit. At least, if the software companies had it their way...
Its no longer about innovation. Its about a landgrab. "Method for drawing on screen graphics using a video device." for example. That is a lot of land! It would be like me laying claim to area enough to cover six of today's states back in the days of western expansion.
Imagine it. Pay-per-boot Windows. Now you have no excuse not to pay for it if you want to use it. Why pay $500 now when you can pay $5 per reboot? Lets take it a bit furthur down the slippery slope. "You may only use Sony products on your PS4. If you use anything else, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This includes cables, TVs, a desk stand, sound systems, accessories, software, hardware, and anything else that might be used in conjuction with your Playstation 4. This is to ensure that you have no problems and are satisfied with your product."
A. Either because you were tempted by something stupid that you could get anyway when someone figures it out (backgrounds, menu themes, etc)
B. Because if you don't, you don't get to watch. A la Steam.
One person dying from lack of blood is better than 1,000 people dying from a brand-spankin-new epidemic that they were infected with 5 years ago but didn't know it.
My firewall for my home PC gets hammered quite a few times a day with portscans/exploit attempts from Chinese-ish IPs.
I set up a passworded share to see what would happen, and damn if there weren't systems trying to bruteforce the password on it.
Google takes a lot of pride in what they do. If people are complaining that they can't compete, maybe they should stop playing Google's game.
I mean, who's stupid enough to start a search engine and try to lure people to theirs whenever Google's is both established, has years of talent behind it, and millions in funding and then complain that they can't compete?
I mean it would be like me trying to write an OS for x86 hardware right now and complaining that Microsoft is making life difficult because no one will pay me for it or invest in me.
The problem with stem cells is that conditions must be met for those cells to become differentiated cells.
Take a skin-type stem cell. It will have to have some kind of trigger to tell it to turn into a skin cell and not say..a nerve cell that attaches to the skin, or an oil-producing-cell, etc. These triggers are tiny, have to be given at the right time, and probably won't be easy to produce.
Its like having a batch of nano-goop that will eat the resources available and turn itself into an object, but you have to find out how to tell it that, by hand.
Same with finding cancer. If we did an MRI (chest, head, or abdomen) on everyone, lots and lots and lots of new cancer cases would be found.
The insurance companies couldn't handle the load of the MRI's much less the suddenly-booming cancer costs.
I have a similar story.
PMSing girl takes aspirin, gets yelled at by teacher, throws bottle down and storms off, gets arrested and questioned about her dealer, because they didn't specify WHAT drug she had, and it was hours until the police found out it was aspirin.
She got expelled and is currently living in a trailer with two kids jobless because no one wants to give a job to someone they heard about on the news that threw drugs at a teacher.
Don't be hatin' IBM. They've had some really good ideas/innovations in the past and I figured an IBM team member would end up either at AMD or Google.
He cheated them out of money.
Lets assume that this game is $30 a month. On average, $1 a day. Say it takes you 2 weeks of playing to get this sword. That's about $14. Losing this sword, in RIAA-esque economy terms, has just cost you $14.
Of course you know its much more than that. Finding something that good gives you a sense of accomplisment and joy.
The point is, he didn't do it fairly. A bot did it. From the sound of it, if you walked up and attacked his bot, you'd be owned with no chance of survival.
I don't know if this falls under civil or criminal code. On one hand, its just a game. On the other hand, so is blackjack, but its a crime to cheat someone out of money.
It can go either way.
Needed a doctor's visit for severe nausea. Some kind of food poisoning or something. My mom got it too. We both went to the doctor. Both got the same medication. Same doctor.
Difference? She, with insurance, came to a total of $100. She only had to pay like $20, and insurance covered the other $80.
Me, without insurance, had to pay $250. Same visit, same doctor, same medication.
I played WoW for a long time. I lost enough Deathstrikers to mages and priests to know that it doesn't make too big of a difference.
I can still PvP quite well. Very well, infact, with my half-decent equipment.
But even that doesn't matter. Unless you spend horus a day playing, you can never really be well-rewarded for your PvP efforts.
I know an ex-head-librarian.
Let me tell you, if they have time to sit around and monitor users internet access all day, they are not doing their job.
You have a lot of responsibilities at that job, and one wrong step and everyone's clamoring for your resignation.
Consequently, she refused to use filtering software. Mainly because it was easy to get around and way too restrictive. Monitoring the internet usage should be done by the assistant librarians, but the head librarian is more worried about other stuff, like you know, making sure the library stays open.
Patenting != inventing.
Hell, Microsoft's just trying to get whatever loose patent they can get so they can selectively use it to pressure their competitors.
You can always tell if Microsoft is sweating because of you if they take out a patent on something you've built as soon as you issue the first press release.
I know plenty of parents that are the same way. I never once received a sex, drugs, alcohol, etc, etc 'talk'. Had I not grown up to be semi-intelligent, I'd probably have ended up a meth head or with hepatits after baging the local Debra the Deep.
It makes a world of difference when your parents talk about it. Its the same thing as asking your supervisor about something that could potentially get you killed at work and they just shrug and move on. It leaves you with a feeling of doubt, an unsteady sinking feeling. Even if they aren't asking, you know they question.
Employer: We need a blood sample for genetic testing, a credit report, a drug test, and a background check before we turn you loose to serve our customers their food.
Potential Employee: Sure, just let me in your corporate accounting section for a few hours. I'll do my research to make sure its worth my time and effort to work with you. Also, I'll need the names of all your current and past employees. Thank you drive through.
Someday a company will try to patent something truly innovative, and be denied. The following week, someone from a larger company with more money will patent the same idea. Not just the same idea, but a copy/pasted version of the original submission.
The company that lost the patent might be slightly mentally unstable, and totally blast the bigger company into the ground with explosives, mercenaries, gang fights, etc. And when its all said and done, we'll know who's fault it was.