Actually it isn't the first to be region locked. I live in Japan and in the past many games simply weren't released here, so I had to try to import them from the US or hope one of the specialty stores would import them. A lot of Activision games (Quake 2 was the first one I encountered) used to be region locked and to get them to install, you needed to modify a line in Window's Registry file. So the work around was easy if you knew how to do it. I don't know when they stopped doing it but I recall buying several games (Hexen 2 series) in a import shop which had instructions (in Japanese!) on how to do it.
I live here in Japan and often log out of my iTunes account and look at all the amazing things people in the US, UK and Australia can buy that are not available on Japan's iTunes. I'd love to be able to legally purchase some TV programs to watch here instead of the stuff I put up with on local TV, not to mention catch a free new song occasionally, or simply buy music that I can't get here. I can't believe someone has only JUST noticed this and is making news out of it.
I think you should have stopped with your first point. Could it be you are projecting your own feeling towards MS with the second? I've been living here in Japan for the past 13 years and I simply don't see evidence of what you are saying. "Most Japanese people see Windows for what it is: (emphasis mine)". This may be true in the professional circles, but to be painfully honest, most home users...the kinds of people who would buy a XBox360 for their kids...are clueless newbies who have no idea of the shortcomings of MS. The few people I know who purchased a Mac did so for the reasons you outlined in your first point. As for the kids who might want to buy an XBox 360, I just can't imagine the following conversation occuring...
Kid A: Hey the new Xbox 360 looks ok, lets try and out and ask Mom and Dad to buy one for us.
Kid B: NOOOOOOOOO. Xbox 360 is produced by MS and they are famous for making bulky, bloated, lazy piece of insecure code that isn't worth a fourth as much as they charge for it, and only survives because of strongarm techniques and an active monopoly. I resent this.
I see it happening more like this...
Kid A: Hey the new Xbox 360 looks ok, lets try and out and ask Mom and Dad to buy one for us.
Kid B: But they are all turned off or on Demo mode so we can't try them, plus there are no good games available for it yet.
But hey, I could be projecting my own ideas a little bit in this case. I've watched the release of both the original XBox and the 360 and MS has made the same mistake both times. The number of games released for the XBox in Japan is far too low to attract much interest. Go into any store and you'll see row after row of PS2 games (not to mention all the other consoles). XBox and XBox 360 games, even when combined, rarely take up more than a couple of shelves at the end of one row. I usually import my games from Singapore (same region) but still face a far smaller catalogue of titles to choose from. I think the ONLY thing that would convince me to buy a 360 would be a sudden surge in region-free titles or simply get rid of the whole region code for games.
I'm a linguist and an English teacher in Japan and frequently have to deal with the irregularities of English spelling, however apart from the occasional problems with 'l' and 'r' and 'b' and 'v' most of my students master English spelling fairly quickly.
While researching for material for my Masters a few years ago I came across this: Yntrodxkshxn tu Nuspelynh
While the writer seems to have an understanding of the topic is is writing about he has missed a very important point; not all English speakers sound like Americans. Hell, not even all Americans sound like Americans; there is significant regional variation in pronunciation throughout that country. To simplify spelling so that pronunciation and spelling matched we would either have to force EVERYONE to pronounce words the same way or all English speaking countries will have a different way of spelling.
When doing undergrad Anthropology I learnt that one's way of speaking is central to one's culture. Early researchers in Australia came upon cases of groups that intentionally changed the way they spoke. As I recall (and it was a bloody long time ago, so don't quote me on this) a group from the Gold Coast area split into two tribes, one moving to Stradbroke Island. The group that moved changed the way they spoke to clearly differenciate between themselves and the former tribe they were a part of. Enforcing the idea of 'us' vs 'not us'.
So, if we standardise and simplify spelling, who is going to give up their way of speaking? I know that I have no intention of EVER sounding like an American, nor do I want to sound like a New Zealander, or a Canadian. No offence intended to people of those countries, but I am NOT one of you and don't wish to be thought of as one of you. Of course if this were to happen there would no longer be a case of 'us' vs 'them'.
What we have no may be difficult for some people to learn, but that is the point. It demonstrate the diffeerence between those who put in the effort to learn and those who don't. For those who can't (surely a minority), we shouldn't lower the bar to help accommodate the weakest, we should find ways of enabling everyone to achieve the same level.
I recently upgraded my old 20Mbps cable connection to a 100Mbps fibre optic connection. The main reason for the switch was the price; about ¥4000/month (approx. US$40) for the cable and under ¥3000/month for fibre optic. The upload bandwidth is around 10Mbps as well I think. Connection speed is one of the things that keeps me in this country.
There is a small problem with your question. Actually you cannot carbon date petrified wood as it is not wood, rather it is stone. The organic material of the wood has been slowly replaced by minerals which creates a stone with the appearance of wood. C-14 dating itself only works for organic remains up to around 60,000 years, after that, the amount of C-14 is too small to give an accurate measurement of the age of the material. As petrified wood is usually aged in the millions of years, then you would not be able to date it using C-14 anyway. So if they have replicated the natural methed, but found a way to increase the speed at which it has occured, then there would be no C-14 to measure.
I live in Japan and for most legal documents you require a 'hanko' or 'personal seal' (and no...not the type you'll find at Sea World). Most people have several (as do I) and use simple shop purchased, made in bulk, seals for daily business, and a professionally made one for official business (Bank loans, lease agreements etc). The professional ones are difficult (but not impossible) to copy. I had one made several years ago and I take VERY good care of it as anyone can pick it up and stamp it on a document and legally it is the same as if I had stamped the document.
The system is ancient but wide open to abuse. Several years ago a woman returned from holidays to discover that she had been married to her workmate. He had simply obtained all the paperwork, stamped it with his own seal and then having taken hers from her drawer, stamped it with her seal as well. The marriage was anulled, but the point is the personal seal is a little dangerous in my opinion.
Anyway, as a result, very few people I know in Japan has what I would call a signature, that is something that you write almost the same way each time. My own signature varies each time I write it an in fact has shrunk over the years, but always contains elements that appear to be hard wired into my hand and brain now. Even if I use a different grip, or even the wrong hand, the pattern is similar (thought obviously different). When my students try to sign something, they usually very neatly write their name in English.
I know it's a petty case, but where I'm from 'noone' is actually hyphenated (no-one) or two words (no one). Even Word doesn't accept the spelling he used in his article and that many here have chosen to copy...
Actually to correct the issue a little more, the concept of correct spelling is actually a little more recent than even dictionaries. The first books published in English appear in the mid-15th century, from the press of William Caxton. The first being printed in 1475. The first dictionaries of English appear in the mid-18th century. Dr. Johnson's dictionary of 43,500 words appeared in 1755, and the American dictionary by Noah Webster slightly later in 1783. Dispite this, there was still lingering reluctance to adopt a standard spelling of words. Even American President Andrew Jackson (1767 - 1845) is reported as stating that he couldn't respect a man who only knew one way to spell a word.
Actually on this point I have a question. Isn't the problem with true anonymity when downloading from the net the connection between your system and your ISP? If nothing else, wouldn't your ISP be able to detect a massive upload/download bandwidth usage? Given the usual way thing work here, I imagine ISPs would be very open with dealings with the police if they came around asking questions. Right now in Japan they are starting to roll out fibre-optic cable connections to the net. Two people in my apartment complex have applied for it and the entire complex was given information on it. Currently they are offering 100Mb/s down and 2Mb/p up. I'm on Cable at the moment which only offers 10M down and.5M up and was thinking of getting it. After hearing about this latest arrest however a few of my friends who already have it are getting worried. They often download TV programs from Bit Torrent (Japanese TV sucks...) but after downloading some 5gig worth of some program they noticed they had uploaded 10gig. They are a little worried that that will ring a few bells back at their ISP.
As I recall, several years ago things like this were the rage in Tokyo. Aparently they had three settings; Want to Talk, Want to Hug, Want to Get Down and Dirty (in Japanese obviously), and came in a male and female model. If someone of the opposite sex with a matching setting walked close, both devices would vibrate, you then had to look through the crowd for the other person looking through the crowd.
I think the problem here is that whenever someone does come up with a better system, they get their arse sued off. So, their money never reaches their mouths...it get intercepted along the way.
hmmm...knee jerk reaction here??? They don't force me to use anything...I made a choice. I like what they offer and I choose to use it. No offence, but just because it is proprietary software, it doesn't mean I'm lock into it or anything.
I've used ICQ for a long time (6 digit UIN) as well as Yahoo! and MS Messenger. I'd love to stick with ICQ only but my friends all migrated away. I run Trillian so I can keep everyone on one list, and installed Skype when 4 of those people also installed it. I will continue to use Skype for as long as I see it as a benefit to me. If they add spyware, it's gone. If they start charging, it's gone. If people start leaving it and there is no one to talk to, it's gone.
If it is good, the community that uses it will grow, not because they are locked into using it, but because they want to use it. This is the same as any app.
I've been using Skype for a couple of weeks now, and so far it is as good as they say it is. The sound quality is unbelievable compared to the other IM apps I've used. It really is almost as good as a phone. The only weird thing is it seems to take over your mic, mine is set to mute and it is muted most of the time. While using Skype however it comes back online and is usable despite still being reported as muted in the sound setup options. If nothing else, it is worth looking into if you like VoIP, if not, it also has a typing chat window as well.
I've found that after the initial interest passes however, few people really want to use it to talk, but it is a nice replacement for MS Messenger (actually I use Trillian, but that might be kicked from the MS Messenger servers soon).
The only problem(?) I've found so far is that initially a bunch of total strangers felt the need to talk to me, but I found the privacy options and set the app to only accept calls from people in my list, after that it was much quieter.
I started out on my highschool's Ohio computer. Kit system built by the science teacher that came with a massive 2k of memory, no sound, no colour and tape deck. Half the case was wooden too. We worked out that a foolscap page of BASIC would use about 1k of memory. Oh the joy when we got the new model that had 4k of memory.
I used to buy a lot of software (mostly games) from the US and Canada. The local versions are all in Japanese, or the manual is in Japanese. Recently however, in the last 2 years or so, the companies I used to purchase from have refused to sell to me as I am in Japan. I can buy books, CDs, DVDs, but not software. The policies surrounding this is by no means consistant either, some places simply refuse, others will sell to me if I fax a photocopy of both the back and front of my credit card and a recent credit card statement (yeah right). I could simply (and beleive me it is simple) get an unauthorised copy, but I actually want to give the developers money for their product.
Some of this is probably due to trade restrictions, but I can see little difference between selling a DVD and selling software, though they are probably handled by seperate trade laws and agreements.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually it isn't the first to be region locked. I live in Japan and in the past many games simply weren't released here, so I had to try to import them from the US or hope one of the specialty stores would import them. A lot of Activision games (Quake 2 was the first one I encountered) used to be region locked and to get them to install, you needed to modify a line in Window's Registry file. So the work around was easy if you knew how to do it. I don't know when they stopped doing it but I recall buying several games (Hexen 2 series) in a import shop which had instructions (in Japanese!) on how to do it.
I live here in Japan and often log out of my iTunes account and look at all the amazing things people in the US, UK and Australia can buy that are not available on Japan's iTunes. I'd love to be able to legally purchase some TV programs to watch here instead of the stuff I put up with on local TV, not to mention catch a free new song occasionally, or simply buy music that I can't get here. I can't believe someone has only JUST noticed this and is making news out of it.
I think you should have stopped with your first point. Could it be you are projecting your own feeling towards MS with the second? I've been living here in Japan for the past 13 years and I simply don't see evidence of what you are saying. "Most Japanese people see Windows for what it is: (emphasis mine)". This may be true in the professional circles, but to be painfully honest, most home users...the kinds of people who would buy a XBox360 for their kids...are clueless newbies who have no idea of the shortcomings of MS. The few people I know who purchased a Mac did so for the reasons you outlined in your first point. As for the kids who might want to buy an XBox 360, I just can't imagine the following conversation occuring...
Kid A: Hey the new Xbox 360 looks ok, lets try and out and ask Mom and Dad to buy one for us.
Kid B: NOOOOOOOOO. Xbox 360 is produced by MS and they are famous for making bulky, bloated, lazy piece of insecure code that isn't worth a fourth as much as they charge for it, and only survives because of strongarm techniques and an active monopoly. I resent this.
I see it happening more like this...
Kid A: Hey the new Xbox 360 looks ok, lets try and out and ask Mom and Dad to buy one for us.
Kid B: But they are all turned off or on Demo mode so we can't try them, plus there are no good games available for it yet.
But hey, I could be projecting my own ideas a little bit in this case. I've watched the release of both the original XBox and the 360 and MS has made the same mistake both times. The number of games released for the XBox in Japan is far too low to attract much interest. Go into any store and you'll see row after row of PS2 games (not to mention all the other consoles). XBox and XBox 360 games, even when combined, rarely take up more than a couple of shelves at the end of one row. I usually import my games from Singapore (same region) but still face a far smaller catalogue of titles to choose from. I think the ONLY thing that would convince me to buy a 360 would be a sudden surge in region-free titles or simply get rid of the whole region code for games.
. , ? ! CAPS. They are your friends, try to use them occasionally.
I'm a linguist and an English teacher in Japan and frequently have to deal with the irregularities of English spelling, however apart from the occasional problems with 'l' and 'r' and 'b' and 'v' most of my students master English spelling fairly quickly.
While researching for material for my Masters a few years ago I came across this: Yntrodxkshxn tu Nuspelynh
While the writer seems to have an understanding of the topic is is writing about he has missed a very important point; not all English speakers sound like Americans. Hell, not even all Americans sound like Americans; there is significant regional variation in pronunciation throughout that country. To simplify spelling so that pronunciation and spelling matched we would either have to force EVERYONE to pronounce words the same way or all English speaking countries will have a different way of spelling.
When doing undergrad Anthropology I learnt that one's way of speaking is central to one's culture. Early researchers in Australia came upon cases of groups that intentionally changed the way they spoke. As I recall (and it was a bloody long time ago, so don't quote me on this) a group from the Gold Coast area split into two tribes, one moving to Stradbroke Island. The group that moved changed the way they spoke to clearly differenciate between themselves and the former tribe they were a part of. Enforcing the idea of 'us' vs 'not us'.
So, if we standardise and simplify spelling, who is going to give up their way of speaking? I know that I have no intention of EVER sounding like an American, nor do I want to sound like a New Zealander, or a Canadian. No offence intended to people of those countries, but I am NOT one of you and don't wish to be thought of as one of you. Of course if this were to happen there would no longer be a case of 'us' vs 'them'.
What we have no may be difficult for some people to learn, but that is the point. It demonstrate the diffeerence between those who put in the effort to learn and those who don't. For those who can't (surely a minority), we shouldn't lower the bar to help accommodate the weakest, we should find ways of enabling everyone to achieve the same level.
I'm in Osaka, and got a deal with USEN, no other requirements (like joining their radio etc).
I recently upgraded my old 20Mbps cable connection to a 100Mbps fibre optic connection. The main reason for the switch was the price; about ¥4000/month (approx. US$40) for the cable and under ¥3000/month for fibre optic. The upload bandwidth is around 10Mbps as well I think. Connection speed is one of the things that keeps me in this country.
Anyone recall this radio program? I listened to it in the 80's. It was a wonderfully funny parody with fake song info and interviews.
There is a small problem with your question. Actually you cannot carbon date petrified wood as it is not wood, rather it is stone. The organic material of the wood has been slowly replaced by minerals which creates a stone with the appearance of wood. C-14 dating itself only works for organic remains up to around 60,000 years, after that, the amount of C-14 is too small to give an accurate measurement of the age of the material. As petrified wood is usually aged in the millions of years, then you would not be able to date it using C-14 anyway. So if they have replicated the natural methed, but found a way to increase the speed at which it has occured, then there would be no C-14 to measure.
The system is ancient but wide open to abuse. Several years ago a woman returned from holidays to discover that she had been married to her workmate. He had simply obtained all the paperwork, stamped it with his own seal and then having taken hers from her drawer, stamped it with her seal as well. The marriage was anulled, but the point is the personal seal is a little dangerous in my opinion.
Anyway, as a result, very few people I know in Japan has what I would call a signature, that is something that you write almost the same way each time. My own signature varies each time I write it an in fact has shrunk over the years, but always contains elements that appear to be hard wired into my hand and brain now. Even if I use a different grip, or even the wrong hand, the pattern is similar (thought obviously different). When my students try to sign something, they usually very neatly write their name in English.
I know it's a petty case, but where I'm from 'noone' is actually hyphenated (no-one) or two words (no one). Even Word doesn't accept the spelling he used in his article and that many here have chosen to copy...
Don't click the above link. Oh to have mod points right now. Typical AC behaviour.
Actually to correct the issue a little more, the concept of correct spelling is actually a little more recent than even dictionaries. The first books published in English appear in the mid-15th century, from the press of William Caxton. The first being printed in 1475. The first dictionaries of English appear in the mid-18th century. Dr. Johnson's dictionary of 43,500 words appeared in 1755, and the American dictionary by Noah Webster slightly later in 1783. Dispite this, there was still lingering reluctance to adopt a standard spelling of words. Even American President Andrew Jackson (1767 - 1845) is reported as stating that he couldn't respect a man who only knew one way to spell a word.
Actually on this point I have a question. Isn't the problem with true anonymity when downloading from the net the connection between your system and your ISP? If nothing else, wouldn't your ISP be able to detect a massive upload/download bandwidth usage? Given the usual way thing work here, I imagine ISPs would be very open with dealings with the police if they came around asking questions. Right now in Japan they are starting to roll out fibre-optic cable connections to the net. Two people in my apartment complex have applied for it and the entire complex was given information on it. Currently they are offering 100Mb/s down and 2Mb/p up. I'm on Cable at the moment which only offers 10M down and .5M up and was thinking of getting it. After hearing about this latest arrest however a few of my friends who already have it are getting worried. They often download TV programs from Bit Torrent (Japanese TV sucks...) but after downloading some 5gig worth of some program they noticed they had uploaded 10gig. They are a little worried that that will ring a few bells back at their ISP.
As I recall, several years ago things like this were the rage in Tokyo. Aparently they had three settings; Want to Talk, Want to Hug, Want to Get Down and Dirty (in Japanese obviously), and came in a male and female model. If someone of the opposite sex with a matching setting walked close, both devices would vibrate, you then had to look through the crowd for the other person looking through the crowd.
Be that as it may, but I rely on Slashdot as my main news source so I have no problem with items being duped.
I think the problem here is that whenever someone does come up with a better system, they get their arse sued off. So, their money never reaches their mouths...it get intercepted along the way.
I've used ICQ for a long time (6 digit UIN) as well as Yahoo! and MS Messenger. I'd love to stick with ICQ only but my friends all migrated away. I run Trillian so I can keep everyone on one list, and installed Skype when 4 of those people also installed it. I will continue to use Skype for as long as I see it as a benefit to me. If they add spyware, it's gone. If they start charging, it's gone. If people start leaving it and there is no one to talk to, it's gone.
If it is good, the community that uses it will grow, not because they are locked into using it, but because they want to use it. This is the same as any app.
I've found that after the initial interest passes however, few people really want to use it to talk, but it is a nice replacement for MS Messenger (actually I use Trillian, but that might be kicked from the MS Messenger servers soon).
The only problem(?) I've found so far is that initially a bunch of total strangers felt the need to talk to me, but I found the privacy options and set the app to only accept calls from people in my list, after that it was much quieter.
I started out on my highschool's Ohio computer. Kit system built by the science teacher that came with a massive 2k of memory, no sound, no colour and tape deck. Half the case was wooden too. We worked out that a foolscap page of BASIC would use about 1k of memory. Oh the joy when we got the new model that had 4k of memory.
I used to buy a lot of software (mostly games) from the US and Canada. The local versions are all in Japanese, or the manual is in Japanese. Recently however, in the last 2 years or so, the companies I used to purchase from have refused to sell to me as I am in Japan. I can buy books, CDs, DVDs, but not software. The policies surrounding this is by no means consistant either, some places simply refuse, others will sell to me if I fax a photocopy of both the back and front of my credit card and a recent credit card statement (yeah right). I could simply (and beleive me it is simple) get an unauthorised copy, but I actually want to give the developers money for their product.
Some of this is probably due to trade restrictions, but I can see little difference between selling a DVD and selling software, though they are probably handled by seperate trade laws and agreements.