If Microsoft develops a screwdriver not only will it require special screws but if, by some means, you are able to use it with another screw make it will reconfigure that so that only the MS screwdriver will work from there on.
Seriously, yes there are people that won't use anything stamped with Microsoft. Except and X-Box or a mouse or a keyboard, but they are different because they are kewl. It's possible to colour everything that Microsoft do as evil if you want to.
I don't think that the benefit is in providing these kids with the technology. The benefit is in using the technology to enable them to have access to materials that they would otherwise not have.
So rather than looking at it as a "ooh, shiney Linux handhelds to poor kids" type story instead look at it as a "using technology to fill a gap in resources" one. Text books can be expensive and pupils need more than one. The cost of the electronic system may be cheaper than the equivalent text books.
I do take the point about technology being no substitute for a good teacher though. However even the best teachers can benefit from having better materials.
Its a psychological crutch. By paying the small amount of money to allofmp3.com they assuage their conscience. They have paid something so therefore they are not doing anything illegal, merely exploiting an apparent loophole.
How people can believe that paying a small amount of money to the composers/writers of the music allows them rights to any performance of that music is beyond my comprehension.
Me. I did briefly use Napster but got fed up with the variable quality and availability of music that went back to buying more CDs. I've even ripped from vinyl and tape. I have bought a few songs from iTMS but nothing like the number on CDs.
I use SpamAssassin. However I do still get the odd false positive. These are usually order confirmations from online shopping sites. They have all of the signature of spam but are real information.
The solution to this would be to have a clause in the copyright registration that requires the copyright holder to ensure that the material remains available in whatever the current distributed media is. A failure to do so would result in a lapse of the copyright.
That said this is likely to be less and less of an issue in the future where making music available is as simple as providing storage space and entries in a database.
I lived through the 80s music scene. There is a lot of music that has deservedly been forgotten.
No. If a law is Immoral, it is everyone's Moral Responsibility to break that law.
Why is a law immoral if it prevents people from sharing something produced by someone else without their consent. I would have said that that is a fairly moral law. The opposite, that it is right to share anything regardless of the consent of the creator, strikes me as exceedingly immoral.
Why won't they be able to watch the movies and listen to the music you like today? I watch movies and listen to music from my father's youth (40 years ago) with out too much problem now.
Oh I see, once the feared *AA get their way they won't let anyone listen to their music or watch their films. This will stop them being pirated. It would also drive them out of business but that won't matter if there's no piracy right?
You have just failed Logic-101. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
our police forces chasing after and persecuting people for what essentially amounts to the distribution of ideas.
In the case of movies a great many people earn a living from making these. I'm not talking about the stars, the actors, the directors etc. I am talking about the set builders, the costume makers, the musicians etc. To me that's more than just ideas.
All of these ideas have a cost generated with producing them and real people, rather than faceless entities, that earn a living from their production. Anyone can have an idea, to dismiss all things as mere ideas once work is done to convert them into something more tangible, de-values the work of the people that carried it out.
The logic conclusion of your hypothesis is that the distribution of idea and derived works should be free regardless of the wish of the creator. I am assuming because of some right of the individual to those ideas and derived works. What of the rights of the creator?
The problem isn't the ID cards so much as the fact that they being made exempt from the Data Protection Act that all other databases holding information on people have to comply to. Under the terms of the act an individual has the right to access the information stored about them in the database. These ID cards will have no such requirement. If people are supposed to trust these cards why have this provision?
Apple iTMS Europe is based in Luxembourg
iTunes Music Store is operated by iTunes S.à.r.l., registration number B 101 120.
Our registered office is 10 rue Mathias Hardt BP 3023, L-1030 Luxembourg.
So Apple are taking advantage of the single market within Europe to ensure that they are paying the lowest taxes on any profits they make. The difference is what they have to pay the copyright holders in each country.
So you're going on a flight. You know you'll need a drink later on so you put a couple of cans of coke into your bag. Going through security the bag gets scanned.....
Yes it's a small chance. The chance is there though and I for one wouldn't like to be in the position of having to explain it.
*yawn* Until the recent announcements MP3 didn't have a DRM model. Without a DRM model the industry isn't going to go with it. The alternative would be akin to asking Turkeys to vote for Christmas/Thanksgiving.
Seriously, before making such obvious glib comments try looking at the issue from an industry point of view. They see a lot of illegal downloads in MP3 format, with differing levels of quality. No way to secure files in an MP3 format. So if they produced good quality MP3 files they would just be feeding the pirates.
The majority of government projects have custom code in them. This usually leads to massive cost overruns as the vendors bidding for the project tend to err on the low side of the estimate (or flat out lie) in order to win the tender.
Going with Apple gives them the ability to run OSS software on top of a supported, performant, supported, off the shelf platform. It reduces the risk and is therefore a good thing from a taxpayers point of view.
The cheaper hardware isn't a big deal here either. As a government agency they would have to go with a big supplier, one that's going to be able to supply and support them and has a track record of doing so. When you are dealing with these volumes I would guess that the Apple kit won't come in much more expensive than say Dell or HP etc.
It may use less power than the backlight but it still sucks power. I had an iTrip but have replaced it with a Dension ICE>link. This solves the problems I had with the iTrip:
Power drain. Okay, it's less drain than the backlight but have a couple of 3+ hour journies a week and using the iTrip would make it a gamble as to whether the battery would last.
Retuning. In the UK the FM band is pretty saturated. I've not been able to find a frequency that was absolutely clear, just a couple that were almost clear. Not practical to change frequencies whilst driving along the motorway network (think freeway - no stopping).
iTrip power off. There is no on/off switch on the iTrip. It switches on when you attach it to the iPod and off when it detects that there has been no output from the iPod for a little while. If you listen to the odd track that has a quiet part in it, not silent, just quiet the iTrip can switch itself off. Requiring you to flip it off and back on to get sound back again. Very annoying.
So whilst an iTrip may be useful, wired solutions have there advantages.
Saying "only" $100 doesn't make any sense, it's the most expensive keyboard I've ever encountered
The best keyboard I bought was the Apple Adjustable Keyboard back in the days of ADB connectors. This cost me 168 (at the time around $250-300) and was worth every penny. It used the same Alps switches in it and the feel was fantastic. If I was in the market for a keyboard I would take a serious look at this.
I'm currently typing on a Dell keyboard. This is a membrane based one and has a similar feel to the Apple Design Keyboard I bought the AAK to replace. Sure it's cheap, but I doubt that I could type for as long on it without it causing me some problems with my hands.
As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately in the computer world the emphasis is generally in lowering the cost at the expense of the quality.
I buy a tune. It's mine now, and I can make any private use of it I want to. That is a right. That includes changing the format to anything I want, listening to it on any device I want, or printing it out as extended ascii and hanging it on my bathroom wall if I feel like it.
*yawn* read the terms and conditions when buying a DRM protected tune from iTMS. When you buy a tune from iTMS you are agreeing to bide by these terms and conditions. Anything else, include your misinformed rant above, is just bluster.
Slashdot Mirror
Ummm MSNBC anyone?
If Microsoft develops a screwdriver not only will it require special screws but if, by some means, you are able to use it with another screw make it will reconfigure that so that only the MS screwdriver will work from there on.
Seriously, yes there are people that won't use anything stamped with Microsoft. Except and X-Box or a mouse or a keyboard, but they are different because they are kewl. It's possible to colour everything that Microsoft do as evil if you want to.
Its your eyes. You need new digital ones to be able to appreciate the new digital format of the movies.
So rather than looking at it as a "ooh, shiney Linux handhelds to poor kids" type story instead look at it as a "using technology to fill a gap in resources" one. Text books can be expensive and pupils need more than one. The cost of the electronic system may be cheaper than the equivalent text books.
I do take the point about technology being no substitute for a good teacher though. However even the best teachers can benefit from having better materials.
As long as the money goes back to where it should, the artists, the principle is fine. Does the money go back to the artists? I doubt it.
How does the above get modded to insightful? It's a tirade, nothing more.
--
burning karma is fun
Its a psychological crutch. By paying the small amount of money to allofmp3.com they assuage their conscience. They have paid something so therefore they are not doing anything illegal, merely exploiting an apparent loophole.
How people can believe that paying a small amount of money to the composers/writers of the music allows them rights to any performance of that music is beyond my comprehension.
Me. I did briefly use Napster but got fed up with the variable quality and availability of music that went back to buying more CDs. I've even ripped from vinyl and tape. I have bought a few songs from iTMS but nothing like the number on CDs.
Please don't feed the trolls.
Nah. That's to cater for all of the PC/X-Windows users that migrate and can't cope with a properly designed UI that only needs one mouse button :)
I use SpamAssassin. However I do still get the odd false positive. These are usually order confirmations from online shopping sites. They have all of the signature of spam but are real information.
That said this is likely to be less and less of an issue in the future where making music available is as simple as providing storage space and entries in a database.
I lived through the 80s music scene. There is a lot of music that has deservedly been forgotten.
Why is a law immoral if it prevents people from sharing something produced by someone else without their consent. I would have said that that is a fairly moral law. The opposite, that it is right to share anything regardless of the consent of the creator, strikes me as exceedingly immoral.
Oh I see, once the feared *AA get their way they won't let anyone listen to their music or watch their films. This will stop them being pirated. It would also drive them out of business but that won't matter if there's no piracy right?
You have just failed Logic-101. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
All of these ideas have a cost generated with producing them and real people, rather than faceless entities, that earn a living from their production. Anyone can have an idea, to dismiss all things as mere ideas once work is done to convert them into something more tangible, de-values the work of the people that carried it out.
The logic conclusion of your hypothesis is that the distribution of idea and derived works should be free regardless of the wish of the creator. I am assuming because of some right of the individual to those ideas and derived works. What of the rights of the creator?
The problem isn't the ID cards so much as the fact that they being made exempt from the Data Protection Act that all other databases holding information on people have to comply to. Under the terms of the act an individual has the right to access the information stored about them in the database. These ID cards will have no such requirement. If people are supposed to trust these cards why have this provision?
Read the article to answer your question.
Apple iTMS Europe is based in Luxembourg iTunes Music Store is operated by iTunes S.à.r.l., registration number B 101 120. Our registered office is 10 rue Mathias Hardt BP 3023, L-1030 Luxembourg. So Apple are taking advantage of the single market within Europe to ensure that they are paying the lowest taxes on any profits they make. The difference is what they have to pay the copyright holders in each country.
Yes it's a small chance. The chance is there though and I for one wouldn't like to be in the position of having to explain it.
Hmmm.... just checking the UK Apple Store gives me a price of £219 for the 20GB one.
Could you please define what you mean by superior?
Seriously, before making such obvious glib comments try looking at the issue from an industry point of view. They see a lot of illegal downloads in MP3 format, with differing levels of quality. No way to secure files in an MP3 format. So if they produced good quality MP3 files they would just be feeding the pirates.
Going with Apple gives them the ability to run OSS software on top of a supported, performant, supported, off the shelf platform. It reduces the risk and is therefore a good thing from a taxpayers point of view.
The cheaper hardware isn't a big deal here either. As a government agency they would have to go with a big supplier, one that's going to be able to supply and support them and has a track record of doing so. When you are dealing with these volumes I would guess that the Apple kit won't come in much more expensive than say Dell or HP etc.
- Power drain. Okay, it's less drain than the backlight but have a couple of 3+ hour journies a week and using the iTrip would make it a gamble as to whether the battery would last.
- Retuning. In the UK the FM band is pretty saturated. I've not been able to find a frequency that was absolutely clear, just a couple that were almost clear. Not practical to change frequencies whilst driving along the motorway network (think freeway - no stopping).
- iTrip power off. There is no on/off switch on the iTrip. It switches on when you attach it to the iPod and off when it detects that there has been no output from the iPod for a little while. If you listen to the odd track that has a quiet part in it, not silent, just quiet the iTrip can switch itself off. Requiring you to flip it off and back on to get sound back again. Very annoying.
So whilst an iTrip may be useful, wired solutions have there advantages.I'm currently typing on a Dell keyboard. This is a membrane based one and has a similar feel to the Apple Design Keyboard I bought the AAK to replace. Sure it's cheap, but I doubt that I could type for as long on it without it causing me some problems with my hands.
As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately in the computer world the emphasis is generally in lowering the cost at the expense of the quality.