Ah, but if they're moving to a rental fee-type system for their OS, surely they supply services - goods, AFAIK, are yours, once paid for, and stay that way.
That's the question, though, isn't it? Who exactly controls these Palladium machines? Do you really think microsoft is going to give purchasers all the keys? Microsoft is going to maintain an element of control in these operating systems much more significant that it has done in the past. If I am a company, do I want to risk, say, my customer database being vanished because I can't prove I have copyright over it. Even if it's unlikely, do I want to take the risk?
So, you're left with dropping support for old Win OS'es to force a move. I think a key determinant here will be market penetration of *nix-base appliances. If businesses in general get used to the idea of that box over in the corner, the one that never, ever breaks, being a *nix box and not costing them a fantastic amount, surely that would make a move from Win more acceptable?
One I saw working in a MUD (not sure how well it'd work in Counterstrike) was a Dragon. the Dragon was the admin character, in possession of powers far greater than any normal character could ever hope to achieve. You misbehaved and the dragon came and kicked your arse. They had a special section where no spells worked and offenders would be sentenced to this area for set amount of time or just banned (though AOLers made that difficult)
Though, I suppose, a problem with CS is that everybody would try and be the admin character. The MUD admin I knew never had that problem, but that could be because he didn't have any persistent crackers after his MUD
That's the point: you give up something and you take something else (as a consumer). Currently the way the world works is that you give up your choice. And that's it. If you're very very lucky you'll save a couple of hundred short term until either a) a monopoly or b) a cartel is established and the prices go waaaaay up.
And as for temporary monopoly, have you been paying attention to the copyright scene? It's temporary, but it's always going to lapse tomorrow...
I live in Hockley, it's a small town close (7 miles approx) to Southend on the south coast of Britain. In the last two days there have been fifteen separate events that have required use of the battery. We haven't had any blackouts for a couple of months, which is about normal, but any one of the above will bugger my computer if it's running. I know because that's the reason I got a UPS. Since the 16th, by the way, 127 events that needed the battery (mainly voltage dropping out, down to 90 at one point) (BTW, UK has 230-240 main, not 110)
Are you willing to bet that the studios (which are basically PR factories) won't have enough sense to go easy. They'll be the odd bit of rough stuff, maybe, but how are you going to hear about it? Fox news? I don't think so!
And, yes, there'll be no new content. Let's see, UK cinema listing...Episode II (aka Ep I with better swordfight) About a boy (Hugh Grant being Hugh Grant number 52) Dog soldiers (Werewolf thing, maybe cool) Ice Age (CG cartoon thing) Scorpion King (Mummy III)
I don't see a fantastic amount of people complaining, do you?
The way to govern effectively is to write the laws so that everything is illegal and you choose who to prosecute...that way, you have a system that enshrines a harsh dictatorship in law.
But, if this stuff is unregulated then other restrictions apply, surely. The Salon article seems to be saying that spyware will be given carte blanche to do as it will to your system and you have no recourse to anything (well, violence I suppose, that works:)
Ah, but if you go for a spin in a space shuttle, you are more likely than not booting somebody else (who, maybe, might do something useful up there;) off. Until we get compulsory DRM, at any rate, copying software isn't such a bugger.
Bear in mind that the primary goal of copyright holders (no way am I ever going to call them copyright producers) is to make sure that their CD does not play in a computer CD drive. Preservation of user's property is probably not high on their list of priorities. There are only going to be so many bugs (whatever) in the CD drive's firmware. If you've found one that stops the CD playing but locks the computer solid, so solid it breaks components, what are you going to do, given the above priorities.
Much as I don't like it, these companies have no interest in you or me except as revenue sources. If there's a possibility we'll stop spending, they'll play as rough as they can to force you.
Or, Store B is a big national or international company, able to operate massive economies of scale. Store A isn't. Store B undercuts Store A until Store A goes out of business, then raises prices to the point where they can make a profit. If competition springs up, repeat, until
Your first point - I doubt it. The assertion has been made by the MPAA and the RIAA but never actually substantiated: there have been other factors. For instance, recent CD sales decreases could be to the recent economic downturn, or to the fact that prices have increased in real terms - there is a close correlation between the price rises and the sales downturns. On the other hand, a couple of authors who have 'open sourced' their works (I'm unaware if the works were released under a GPL-style licence, hence the quotes) have found a distinct increase in their royalty payments. This has been attributed to a greater willingness to try new works due to the cost, a fraction of which will then go out and buy. The author (no link, sorry) gave figures showing a close correlation between the availability of old texts and the increases in payments, which normally fall off sharply after 12 months.
While I concede that laws are passed by the entertainment industry for the entertainment industry, copyright itself was never supposed to help authors. It's supposed to give authors some incentive to contribute, to enrich society. How you explain locking everybody who isn't a multi-billion dollar company out of the creativity business I don't know, but it is my suspicion that such an argument will never be made.
It's worth pointing out that in 1984 (a book that includes, among other things, TV sets that send data back) the populace is kept in check by war. War is regarded to be the only thing that can generate so much hysteria that people will give up all freedoms. And now we have a war on terror. Cute, isn't it?
My point was that making somebody's political views part of your criteria for immigration sucks, basically. Or religious. It means you can stop free speech by stopping inconvenient ideas at your border and do it even more quietly than outright banning them.
I am really not certain what the hanging witches and nazi comments are about. You seem to be saying "times change, deal with it!" but I'm not sure how that relates. If you are suggesting that european governments are hypocritical, you won't get any argument from me, but I every government I can think of is.
At Leicester Uni there was one guy, year ahead of us (we were second years at the time) who was always in the middle (restricted access to 2nd & 3rd yr CS\SEng only) lab, which was kitted out with PIII/800s, dual booting to Linux and 2k (we were part of the guine^H^H^H^H^H beta test program). This guy never stopped complaining about how he hated PCs, linux or Windows or whatever. He'd say how the hardware was crap. Then we'd point out
1) The CS Mac room is down the corridor and turn right
2) Check prices for low-end PCs, high-end PCs vs. low, high end Macs.
He'd be quiet...until the next time. That was the time I aquired a certain...wariness of Mac users, especially the evangelical ones. But I wasn't about to argue with someone who does Judo. Much, anyway.
(for real, this isn't a troll, data may be old or just plain wrong)
Do US Immigration require immigrants to state specifically that they are not members of a communist organisation?
Have they ever done?
Do US Immigration discriminate against mormons (I think?)?
Have they ever done?
If this is wrong, I'm sorry for wasting your time, but I hope you can agree that both are recognised expressions of political \ religious free speech. God that sentance sounds lame - you get the idea, anyhow. I'm pretty sure I have a superfluous question mark in there, too.
Ummm, exactly which marxist societies are you talking about? There aren't any in existence currently and there haven't been for a long, long time. The USSR (hint Union of Soviet *Socialist* Republics - not communist, even in the name) certainly was not marxist. It was your average common-or-garden dictatorship. Hell, East Germany was a democracy, for crying out loud!
Marxism is a nice idea but unfortunately does not work well with large groups of selfish people who'll stab each other in the back as soon as look each other in the eye. (IMO, that's damned near everybody in a sufficiently large group) That's why it wasn't practiced for very long.
>Monorails are innefficient which is one of the >main reasons why they've not been adopted. As >this poster says, they have tires and tires on >concrete, whether they grip the road or grip a >concrete i-beam, are inherently less efficient >and require more frequent replacement than good >old steel-on-steel rail.
Have you never played transport tycoon? Monorails kick ass! (well, assuming you got the patch so the £$*&£^g game didn't crash at game year 2k - the only bloody thing I had with a millenium bug!)
I think the reason it's used is less to do with efficiency and more with grip. Say what you like about rubber tyres, they grip better than steel ones do.
But governments generally have to abide by due process. Corporations do not and have no problems filing spurious lawsuits that can limit your options because of your risk/reward - sure, you'll PROBABLY win but if you don't you're going to get your arse kicked. Besides, with Disney et al writing the laws, you haven't even really got the probably anymore
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, but if they're moving to a rental fee-type system for their OS, surely they supply services - goods, AFAIK, are yours, once paid for, and stay that way.
That's the question, though, isn't it? Who exactly controls these Palladium machines? Do you really think microsoft is going to give purchasers all the keys? Microsoft is going to maintain an element of control in these operating systems much more significant that it has done in the past. If I am a company, do I want to risk, say, my customer database being vanished because I can't prove I have copyright over it. Even if it's unlikely, do I want to take the risk?
So, you're left with dropping support for old Win OS'es to force a move. I think a key determinant here will be market penetration of *nix-base appliances. If businesses in general get used to the idea of that box over in the corner, the one that never, ever breaks, being a *nix box and not costing them a fantastic amount, surely that would make a move from Win more acceptable?
One I saw working in a MUD (not sure how well it'd work in Counterstrike) was a Dragon. the Dragon was the admin character, in possession of powers far greater than any normal character could ever hope to achieve. You misbehaved and the dragon came and kicked your arse. They had a special section where no spells worked and offenders would be sentenced to this area for set amount of time or just banned (though AOLers made that difficult)
Though, I suppose, a problem with CS is that everybody would try and be the admin character. The MUD admin I knew never had that problem, but that could be because he didn't have any persistent crackers after his MUD
That's the point: you give up something and you take something else (as a consumer). Currently the way the world works is that you give up your choice. And that's it. If you're very very lucky you'll save a couple of hundred short term until either a) a monopoly or b) a cartel is established and the prices go waaaaay up.
And as for temporary monopoly, have you been paying attention to the copyright scene? It's temporary, but it's always going to lapse tomorrow...
I live in Hockley, it's a small town close (7 miles approx) to Southend on the south coast of Britain. In the last two days there have been fifteen separate events that have required use of the battery. We haven't had any blackouts for a couple of months, which is about normal, but any one of the above will bugger my computer if it's running. I know because that's the reason I got a UPS. Since the 16th, by the way, 127 events that needed the battery (mainly voltage dropping out, down to 90 at one point) (BTW, UK has 230-240 main, not 110)
Are you willing to bet that the studios (which are basically PR factories) won't have enough sense to go easy. They'll be the odd bit of rough stuff, maybe, but how are you going to hear about it? Fox news? I don't think so!
And, yes, there'll be no new content. Let's see, UK cinema listing...Episode II (aka Ep I with better swordfight) About a boy (Hugh Grant being Hugh Grant number 52) Dog soldiers (Werewolf thing, maybe cool) Ice Age (CG cartoon thing) Scorpion King (Mummy III)
I don't see a fantastic amount of people complaining, do you?
That's the whole point!
The way to govern effectively is to write the laws so that everything is illegal and you choose who to prosecute...that way, you have a system that enshrines a harsh dictatorship in law.
But, if this stuff is unregulated then other restrictions apply, surely. The Salon article seems to be saying that spyware will be given carte blanche to do as it will to your system and you have no recourse to anything (well, violence I suppose, that works :)
I think you'll find that's because they don't put up links to dead males.
I wonder why. Surely something interesting must have happened to at least one of them...
Ah, but if you go for a spin in a space shuttle, you are more likely than not booting somebody else (who, maybe, might do something useful up there ;) off. Until we get compulsory DRM, at any rate, copying software isn't such a bugger.
A quote I remember is:
'By the curious standards of the GNP, the nation's economic hero is a terminal cancer patient going through a messy divorce.'
GNP was designed for an era when *things* were the trade, not information and services. It works well in that instance, but the world has moved on.
Bear in mind that the primary goal of copyright holders (no way am I ever going to call them copyright producers) is to make sure that their CD does not play in a computer CD drive. Preservation of user's property is probably not high on their list of priorities. There are only going to be so many bugs (whatever) in the CD drive's firmware. If you've found one that stops the CD playing but locks the computer solid, so solid it breaks components, what are you going to do, given the above priorities.
Much as I don't like it, these companies have no interest in you or me except as revenue sources. If there's a possibility we'll stop spending, they'll play as rough as they can to force you.
Copyright expiration?
Not quite sure I understand...I thought copyright lifespan was supposed to be $TODAYSDATE+100
Or, Store B is a big national or international company, able to operate massive economies of scale. Store A isn't. Store B undercuts Store A until Store A goes out of business, then raises prices to the point where they can make a profit. If competition springs up, repeat, until
a) everybody is discouraged
b) no sane person would provide backing.
Your first point - I doubt it. The assertion has been made by the MPAA and the RIAA but never actually substantiated: there have been other factors. For instance, recent CD sales decreases could be to the recent economic downturn, or to the fact that prices have increased in real terms - there is a close correlation between the price rises and the sales downturns. On the other hand, a couple of authors who have 'open sourced' their works (I'm unaware if the works were released under a GPL-style licence, hence the quotes) have found a distinct increase in their royalty payments. This has been attributed to a greater willingness to try new works due to the cost, a fraction of which will then go out and buy. The author (no link, sorry) gave figures showing a close correlation between the availability of old texts and the increases in payments, which normally fall off sharply after 12 months.
So what do you do when you get the one judge knowledgeable about IP...and they're biased?
Arse...need a new sig
While I concede that laws are passed by the entertainment industry for the entertainment industry, copyright itself was never supposed to help authors. It's supposed to give authors some incentive to contribute, to enrich society. How you explain locking everybody who isn't a multi-billion dollar company out of the creativity business I don't know, but it is my suspicion that such an argument will never be made.
It's worth pointing out that in 1984 (a book that includes, among other things, TV sets that send data back) the populace is kept in check by war. War is regarded to be the only thing that can generate so much hysteria that people will give up all freedoms. And now we have a war on terror. Cute, isn't it?
My point was that making somebody's political views part of your criteria for immigration sucks, basically. Or religious. It means you can stop free speech by stopping inconvenient ideas at your border and do it even more quietly than outright banning them.
I am really not certain what the hanging witches and nazi comments are about. You seem to be saying "times change, deal with it!" but I'm not sure how that relates. If you are suggesting that european governments are hypocritical, you won't get any argument from me, but I every government I can think of is.
At Leicester Uni there was one guy, year ahead of us (we were second years at the time) who was always in the middle (restricted access to 2nd & 3rd yr CS\SEng only) lab, which was kitted out with PIII/800s, dual booting to Linux and 2k (we were part of the guine^H^H^H^H^H beta test program). This guy never stopped complaining about how he hated PCs, linux or Windows or whatever. He'd say how the hardware was crap. Then we'd point out
1) The CS Mac room is down the corridor and turn right
2) Check prices for low-end PCs, high-end PCs vs. low, high end Macs.
He'd be quiet...until the next time. That was the time I aquired a certain...wariness of Mac users, especially the evangelical ones. But I wasn't about to argue with someone who does Judo. Much, anyway.
Can you answer me some questions then?
(for real, this isn't a troll, data may be old or just plain wrong)
Do US Immigration require immigrants to state specifically that they are not members of a communist organisation?
Have they ever done?
Do US Immigration discriminate against mormons (I think?)?
Have they ever done?
If this is wrong, I'm sorry for wasting your time, but I hope you can agree that both are recognised expressions of political \ religious free speech. God that sentance sounds lame - you get the idea, anyhow. I'm pretty sure I have a superfluous question mark in there, too.
Ummm, exactly which marxist societies are you talking about? There aren't any in existence currently and there haven't been for a long, long time. The USSR (hint Union of Soviet *Socialist* Republics - not communist, even in the name) certainly was not marxist. It was your average common-or-garden dictatorship. Hell, East Germany was a democracy, for crying out loud!
Marxism is a nice idea but unfortunately does not work well with large groups of selfish people who'll stab each other in the back as soon as look each other in the eye. (IMO, that's damned near everybody in a sufficiently large group) That's why it wasn't practiced for very long.
>Monorails are innefficient which is one of the >main reasons why they've not been adopted. As >this poster says, they have tires and tires on >concrete, whether they grip the road or grip a >concrete i-beam, are inherently less efficient >and require more frequent replacement than good >old steel-on-steel rail.
Have you never played transport tycoon? Monorails kick ass! (well, assuming you got the patch so the £$*&£^g game didn't crash at game year 2k - the only bloody thing I had with a millenium bug!)
I think the reason it's used is less to do with efficiency and more with grip. Say what you like about rubber tyres, they grip better than steel ones do.
Yeah, it's some of the City ones I think. Shame about the 1910-era trains, though :)
But governments generally have to abide by due process. Corporations do not and have no problems filing spurious lawsuits that can limit your options because of your risk/reward - sure, you'll PROBABLY win but if you don't you're going to get your arse kicked. Besides, with Disney et al writing the laws, you haven't even really got the probably anymore