they'd have to suddenly completely change their business model.
Well, IBM was rather succesful when they moved from selling boxes to a services company. Then again, they had to. MS is probably feeling very comfy in their current position.
I feel the same way with their ubiquitous cabbage soup...
You obviously haven't had any proper cabbage soup (borscht); it can be very tasty. Also keep in mind the old Russian saying: "the more you beat the wife, the better the soup will taste".
Why on earth would no movie be better than any of the alternatives? If the movie turns out to be great, great. If it sucks, too bad, we'll all have wasted about 2 hours of our lives. Or would a bad movie somehow ruin the book for you?
If you're scared of being disappointed, you've got one hell of a life in front of you;)
Re:Doesn't make sense for the US
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PSPCasting
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· Score: 1
But when does the average American ever have an opportunity to sit around like that while someone else is steering the vehicle?
What about the kids sitting in the back seat of that car? A portable video unit to keep them occupied during long trips would be nice. Why do you think some cars have an option to play DVDs in the navigation unit's drive on screens mounted on the back of the front headrests?
Re:Mobile Cinema
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PSPCasting
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Mobile Cinema isn't going to work
It'll work just fine whenever you are on the move. Back when I frequently made some frequent long-distance flights, I considered purchasing one of those portable DVD units which I previously had dismissed as 'utterly pointless' because of their small screen. But a couple of 12-hour flights with sucky in-flight movies and a boring/snoring fellow passenger changed my opinion of these units real quick!
Besides, if you want a big screen you can always get one of those LCD glasses (Sony's GlassTron).
Why is it ok for a government to plunder MS to the tune of $5 million a day?
If it had been a US antitrust watchdog ordering MS to open up their standards, and a US judge finding that MS was to be fined for non-compliance with the order, I think that a lot more people here would be cheering.
I for one applaud the large fine. I have seen corporations shrug and pay lesser fines, and cheerfully remain in violation of court rulings... especially in antitrust cases. This sends a clear signal to MS to comply now, not after an appeal, not after more tactics to wiggle out of the ruling while appearing to comply, not after more stall tactics.
Looking at the most recent tactics of the RIAA/MPAA and their pals around the world, I would say that they are no longer targetting P2P directly anyway, or the companies that develop/host the P2P applications. They are now going after P2P users who upload materials owned by them. Uploading such material is illegal in most countries, and most P2P clients will upload as well as download (that's the whole point of them). Witness the recent flurry of cease-and-desist letters sent to users in various countries... next is a few trial cases which they will probably win or settle, and then the floodgates of litigation will open.
The message going out to P2P users is: We can find out if our material is being traded on P2P, we can find you doing it, and we will sue you for it. The cease-and-desist letters have already made people more wary.
True. I'm not sure what the exact cell phone usage is here in NL, but the most common response to "I don't have a cellphone", is an utterly disbelieving "what!?".
Appenrently they have the right break in and look through other peoples stuff if they think there are some "pirated" things there.
No they don't, and some ISPs refuse to play ball. Apparently worldwide anti-piracy organisations are stepping up their efforts, and in the Netherlands, BREIN (our own anti-piracy org) has started to send out cease-and-desist letters to ISPs, with the request (demand, more like) to forward the letter to their customers whose IP address appears on the list of known filesharers. At least one ISP, XS4All, has replied along the lines of: "We are not an extension of anti-piracy orgs, and we will not forward any letters for them or release customer information to them, without a court order".
If you've got a laptop and you've got a cell phone, is there any need for a PDA?
I might do away with my PDA if someone will invent a cellphone with good PDA functionality in it... or rather if I could take calls on my PDA, I'd throw away my phone.
The reason is that I always have my PDA with me, so I can always access (and update!) my phone book, address list, to do list, notes and agenda. This functionality exists on phones but it's crap, especially when it comes to updating the info. Laptops are too bulky. A paper agenda is an option, but unlike my PDA I cannot easily back it up, and paper to-do lists and address lists don't really work.
So the answer is yes: I do really use my PDA, and I cannot think of another device or method to take its place. It does nothing I could not really do by other methods, but it's a godsend for doing these things timely, neatly and without much effort.
So if the reason for letting the directive pass now was simply "administrative" and not related to its actual content and meaning, this leaves space for it to be rejected later.
Yes, the directive should not be rejected like this, according to proper procedure. It'll still have to pass the EC Parliament, which will hopefully send the directive back to the hell from which it came.
Nowhere... just look at certain 'marketer' spammers, who are willing to break the law, literally piss of millions upon millions of computer users, and render a uncredibly useful tool unusable, just to peddle some h3rb4l v14gra? Similarly, some marketers would chuck flyers from an aircraft until we'd be knee-deep in them, if it would bring them a 0.2% increase in sales (and if they could do it for free). They have just one goal: get your attention.
You've probably gone and given them the idea... In a month's time we'll see discounted PCs with that hand fitted.
Are there any bushies out there who can defend this and tell me why I shouldn't be having a fit?
Why ask the Bushies? While I personally don't like the Bush administration a lot, I do know that this sort of thing goes on in pretty much every government. Most governments have nepotism, favours for friends, one-hand-washes-the-other, corruption, special interests and hunger for power at their roots. Democrat, socialist, green, communist or liberal governments are no exception.
You have to feel sorry for the ISP hosting that site and every ISP in between.
Sorry? I think the server will have gone into utter, utter meltdown by now. Finland will be able to warm every household for the remainder of the winter from the heat coming off that server.
Just as well. The client I am working for automatically converts all outbound attachments into.zip files, whereas a major supplier for this client does not accept zipp files from outside the company. This makes for hours of fun trying to get documents from one site to the other.
Only libertarians would want it to be illegal for citizens to have a chance to vote on whether they wanted municipally funded wifi...
Bingo, seems you guessed my political conviction... If citizens want Wifi so badly, let them start their own little Wifi company. Or, if they vote the city to do it, companies should at least be allowed to compete on an even footing.
States are large and tend to get overly beurocratic, but smaller governmental organisations often run things rather well.
You and the parent post both miss the point. It's not about how effective or crappy a state-run service is. This has to do with unfair competition. A municipality offering telecoms services can (and often will) bar any competitors from the market, by subsidising the service out of the public coffers and undercutting fair market rates, or by throwing so many obstacles in the path of competitors as to make competition impractical (withholding permits for cables and antennas, etc. etc.) From my personal experience, the situation in Hull is the exception rather than the norm.
What's wrong with people that they think a game that allows you to beat up women, shoot cops and steal cars is fun?
It's fun because it's challenging. It's also fun because you can do things in the game that you're not able or allowed to do in real life. It's called 'escapism'. And it does not mean that the players condone any such actions in real life, just like many people who disapprove of racism will still laugh at jokes that make fun of ethnic groups.
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If you're scared of being disappointed, you've got one hell of a life in front of you
Besides, if you want a big screen you can always get one of those LCD glasses (Sony's GlassTron).
Next: 'Blogcasting' (reading your fave blog on your cellphone), 'bookcasting' (Ebooks on your PSP), and so on.
I for one applaud the large fine. I have seen corporations shrug and pay lesser fines, and cheerfully remain in violation of court rulings... especially in antitrust cases. This sends a clear signal to MS to comply now, not after an appeal, not after more tactics to wiggle out of the ruling while appearing to comply, not after more stall tactics.
True. I'm not sure what the exact cell phone usage is here in NL, but the most common response to "I don't have a cellphone", is an utterly disbelieving "what!?".
The reason is that I always have my PDA with me, so I can always access (and update!) my phone book, address list, to do list, notes and agenda. This functionality exists on phones but it's crap, especially when it comes to updating the info. Laptops are too bulky. A paper agenda is an option, but unlike my PDA I cannot easily back it up, and paper to-do lists and address lists don't really work.
So the answer is yes: I do really use my PDA, and I cannot think of another device or method to take its place. It does nothing I could not really do by other methods, but it's a godsend for doing these things timely, neatly and without much effort.
You've probably gone and given them the idea... In a month's time we'll see discounted PCs with that hand fitted.
Who modded my previous comment 'funny'? It isn't funny, dammit!! *stamps foot*
Nail him on spamming and extortion. This guy doesn't really sound like an above-the-board, honest businessman