They'll be looking hard for a target market...
on
Digital Lifestyle
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
My brother was on the board of directors of a medium-sized home automation
company (no, not the annoying one), and
they considered creating and subsidizing an operation like this to showcase
all of their cutting-edge products. They did their market research back in
1998, when there were countless dot-com nouveau millionaires who were
looking for cool new ways to blow a wad of cash on their pathetic selves,
and found strong demand for their project. In fact, the late 90s made the
company extremely wealthy and many of their staffers took an early
retirement.
Fast forward to 2002. The company has scaled back their operations
considerably. New market research data shows that there is almost
nobody who would want to pay to live in a fully automated apartment.
Hopelesscompanies no longer have
stock valuations based more in ignorance than in profit potential. The Era
of High Tech Toys has passed us by. I'm not sure what HP, "home of the earnings warning," is thinking, but something
tells me that their cool new automated homes are not going to pave the way
back to profitability.
Let me preface this by saying that I am an avid Linux user. I use Latex
for word processing, Koffice to read office docs, and Netscape 4.77 to
browse the web. I do not depend on non-free software for anything.
Now, my question: what were these "DrinkOrDie" people thinking? They are
going to spend months, maybe years in jail just because they
couldn't live without their precious warez. I find it hard to imagine what
you can't do with free, legal open source software - so why did
these kids forsake their entire future over some crappy commercial software
products? It blows the mind, really. The latest Debian CD provides all
the software anyone could ever conceive of needing.
One possibility is that they did this to "be cool" and to show that they
could get away with it - just for the thrill of doing something illegal.
Well, it didn't get them laid, and they're not getting away with it. So
they can take comfort in the fact that they will be rotting away in their
prison cells as vaginal virgins. I hope they are proud of themselves.
Why anyone would subject themselves to this sort of punishment for a little
free closed-source software is beyond the realm of comprehension.
I purchased one of these copy protected CDs without knowing that it was
defective merchandise, and the store I
bought it from will not accept the return since the music was opened.
Since I paid cash, I have no right of appeal.
However, I am fed up with this charade and I would like to end it
once and for all. I have the paperwork in front of me to take Universal
Records to small claims court to recover the purchase price of the CD.
Since Universal is not based in my area, it will be very expensive for them
to send their high-priced lawyers to my county to deal with the charges.
And, worst case, I will lose the cost of the CD (and best case, I will get
a refund on the CD and make a political statement at the same time).
I strongly encourage all of you to do the same thing: buy whatever CDs you
want, and sue the record labels if they are copy protected. Even if most
of the cases get thrown out, it will be *very* expensive for the labels to
take any sort of action against the thousands of individuals who are suing
them.
The RIAA has been able to manipulate the legal system into standing up for
their rights. Why shouldn't we do the same thing back to them?
It's nice to have a hobby and all, but sometimes people just can't get over
the fact that technology has changed so much that their hobby deserves to
be obsolete. I don't mean to flame the Amish or others who
have a religious objection to
technology. But why can't people just let go of outmoded toys? Are
they afraid to learn how to use today's innovations? Are they too stingy
to pay for new avenues of recreation?
For instance, in this era of G4 cubes and Titanium Powerbooks, some Apple
loyalists still participate in Apple ][ users groups.
What's the point? Working on a machine that has 128k of memory and uses
an NTSC monitor is pointless; most wristwatches have more processing power
than that nowadays.
Some people need to just grow up and change with the times. Nostalgia is
good but living in the past will get you nowhere. Get a grip.
In retrospect, XM should have really considered a smartcard system like
that of DirecTV. Those are crackable
but they are a lot more difficult. Putting the authenticator on a damn
EEPROM chip was just a stupid move, and it is certain to result in
large-scale piracy.
Slashdot Mirror
Fast forward to 2002. The company has scaled back their operations considerably. New market research data shows that there is almost nobody who would want to pay to live in a fully automated apartment. Hopeless companies no longer have stock valuations based more in ignorance than in profit potential. The Era of High Tech Toys has passed us by. I'm not sure what HP, "home of the earnings warning," is thinking, but something tells me that their cool new automated homes are not going to pave the way back to profitability.
~wally
Now, my question: what were these "DrinkOrDie" people thinking? They are going to spend months, maybe years in jail just because they couldn't live without their precious warez. I find it hard to imagine what you can't do with free, legal open source software - so why did these kids forsake their entire future over some crappy commercial software products? It blows the mind, really. The latest Debian CD provides all the software anyone could ever conceive of needing.
One possibility is that they did this to "be cool" and to show that they could get away with it - just for the thrill of doing something illegal. Well, it didn't get them laid, and they're not getting away with it. So they can take comfort in the fact that they will be rotting away in their prison cells as vaginal virgins. I hope they are proud of themselves.
Why anyone would subject themselves to this sort of punishment for a little free closed-source software is beyond the realm of comprehension.
~waIly
However, I am fed up with this charade and I would like to end it once and for all. I have the paperwork in front of me to take Universal Records to small claims court to recover the purchase price of the CD. Since Universal is not based in my area, it will be very expensive for them to send their high-priced lawyers to my county to deal with the charges. And, worst case, I will lose the cost of the CD (and best case, I will get a refund on the CD and make a political statement at the same time).
I strongly encourage all of you to do the same thing: buy whatever CDs you want, and sue the record labels if they are copy protected. Even if most of the cases get thrown out, it will be *very* expensive for the labels to take any sort of action against the thousands of individuals who are suing them.
The RIAA has been able to manipulate the legal system into standing up for their rights. Why shouldn't we do the same thing back to them?
~wally
For instance, in this era of G4 cubes and Titanium Powerbooks, some Apple loyalists still participate in Apple ][ users groups. What's the point? Working on a machine that has 128k of memory and uses an NTSC monitor is pointless; most wristwatches have more processing power than that nowadays.
Some people need to just grow up and change with the times. Nostalgia is good but living in the past will get you nowhere. Get a grip.
Just my 2c.
~wally
In retrospect, XM should have really considered a smartcard system like that of DirecTV. Those are crackable but they are a lot more difficult. Putting the authenticator on a damn EEPROM chip was just a stupid move, and it is certain to result in large-scale piracy.
~wally