buy some DRM-ed music and then save it on your MP3 player, which can only be an Apple (tm) iPod (tm).
Or burn it to a CD and play it in any of the world's 27 jillion CD players, or re-rip as MP3 and play in any MP3 player. But bravo for not letting facts get in the way of a good rant.
DRM gotchas, such as having to re-buy the songs if your computer died
That has nothing to do with DRM, that's just Apple declining to allow you to re-download music you previously bought (which they should do, even if they charge a small fee). Nothing in the DRM prevents you from backing up the protected files directly or burning an audio CD, and with a bit of effort you can transcode to unprotected AAC or MP3.
we just got 3 new apples in last week. I set all 3 of them up. Every single one of them runs as root by default.
No they don't. The default user account is an "administrator" (in the admin and wheel groups), and thus can acquire root privileges, but is definitely not root.
I haven't pulled down the consol, but I'm willing to bet that I could write to any directory on the fs.
And I would be even more willing to bet against you. Try/System for starters.
And if I can't, it still doesn't change the fact that there is write access to/etc by the default user.
Why didn't they test a dual PIV, why cause it might just win?
Um, maybe they didn't have one? At any rate, the main point of the benchmarks (making the large assumption that they're legit) was to compare the PPC 970 to the G4, not x86. Although since the low-end single 970 beat the 3.0 P4, I'd imagine a high-end dual 970 would beat a dual P4/Xeon. We'll just have to wait a few more months to see.
it sounds like they were witholding benchmarks that showed how the single P4 3.0 spanked the dual 1.4 G4. That doesn't seem very forthright.
It didn't sound that way to me, it's already common knowledge that the 3.0 P4 beats the 1.4 G4 at most stuff. The impression I got was that they didn't want to deflate Apple's Power Mac sales by pointing out that a much faster processor is due shortly. But then they found that G4 PMac sales are already in the tank, so it wouldn't do any harm (which is also common knowledge, so that doesn't entirely make sense). Of course this is assuming they're not fabricating numbers out of thin air.
it would be nice to be a sane, RISC architecture compete with Intel for volume.
With any luck Apple will be shipping IBM's PowerPC 970 in a few months. Add the rumors of IBM cutting deals with Apple to ship OS X on their servers, and things could get interesting again.
Re:Hm, I just saw this plot in X2..
on
SCO DOS'ed
·
· Score: 1
Just great, now SCO will get all Stryker on Linux's ass
If SCO=Stryker, then IBM=Wolverine. Not too worried.
Re:Why you gottat go and do a stupid thing like th
on
SCO DOS'ed
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Absolutely right. I wouldn't be surprised to see some MS FUD based on this, e.g. "You really don't want to get involved with those Linux hooligans. Do anything they don't like and they'll attack your systems."
if you're not planning on sharing the music you buy with the whole world, the restrictions that they *do* put in will NEVER hinder you.
Obviously false.
Do you have more than three Macs you will use to listen to that music?
Quite possibly yes. Or I might want to listen on a Mac that currently doesn't have an Internet connection to authenticate to Apple. Or Apple's site might be down for some reason. Or Apple might unilaterally decide to alter the terms. Or I might even want to listen on a PC.
I'm not upset with Apple's DRM implementation. It was the only way to get the record labels on board, and it's nowhere near as restrictive as Palladium looks to be. But like any DRM system, it will invariably inconvenience legitimate users.
The price/performance of a Mac is significantly worse than a PC to begin with
Depends. That's true today, but it wasn't during the time of the G3 and PII. The forthcoming PowerPC 970 should eliminate or substantially reduce the difference.
incrementally upgrading a Mac is MUCH more difficult than a PC
Again, it depends. RAM and drives are identical. Graphics cards can be more expensive but not excessively so. I got a Mac Radeon 8500 last year for $160. Processor upgrades exist but are pretty expensive. Usually they're not worth it compared to buying a new system, but due to Motorola's ineptitude today's G4 towers aren't that much more advanced than the ones from 2000 (e.g. still no DDR support). So I got a 1.2GHz upgrade for my G4/400 for $600 and am quite happy with it. (Yes, I know I could get a complete PC system for less than that. It wouldn't run OS X, so I don't really care).
Import the protected AAC into a sound/movie editing app (I've used Sound Studio, somebody else said iMovie works too), export to AIFF, convert to MP3 or unprotected AAC. Should be fairly easy to AppleScript.
we have to find an equivalent to the "having SUVs supports terrorism" ads to fight back with
I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard that during the 1990s many CIA resources were diverted from investigating terrorist groups to fighting international movie and music piracy.
There is no way in hell I am going to check a laptop.
Me either. And what a lot of people don't realize is that excessive airline "safety" measures will result in *more* deaths. If I have to travel 500 miles and decide to drive because flying has become too inconvenient, there's a far greater chance I'll be killed in a car accident.
Offering a new service that has gotten massive hype in the media as of late, to all of 2% of new computer buyers, and maybe 5% of personal computers (I am being generous with that...) in total, is the perfect recipe for failure.
Just hit the Apple webpage, and went for the Ultimate Powermac G4 (dual PPC 1.4GHz), and customized it as close as possible to that.
Apple's prices for RAM and HD upgrades are insane. You'd save quite a bit getting those from third parties, although it wouldn't completely erase the difference.
I think this idea that Win32 compatability killed OS/2 is nonsense.
Granted IBM's marketing was terrible, but I believe this was a major problem as well. I used OS/2 Warp in college and the lack of native apps was annoying. I recall a number of software companies whose response was "our Windows version works fine in OS/2".
Doesn't the HyperTransport relationship seem a bit more logical
Exactly. A year ago it might have made sense for Apple to switch to x86, but with the impending 970 release it would be silly. It would substantially reduce the currently huge demand for the 970, as buyers would fear the machines being obsoleted if Apple abandoned the PowerPC entirely. But HyperTransport is win-win for everybody (well, not MS and Intel, darn).
Maybe the fact that the ISP owns that network you are using gives them the right.
No, the ISP does not own the portion of the network from my NAT box to my computers. Per my contract with my ISP, I have exactly one machine connected to their network. That machine happens to be a Linksys router, and it happens to forward requests sent to it over *my* network, but that's none of their business.
What will everyone do if artist throw in the towel and no longer "atempt" to sell their work.
I suspect we'd find the strength to go on living. Of course this is a false dilemna, as it ignores the many artists who have found that they can make money while giving away MP3s or text of their works.
Is it okay to xerox books to avoid paying a writer for his work?
No. Is it okay to quote a paragraph of a copyrighted work in order to criticize it? (Also, is it okay to misappropriate a trademark of the Xerox Corporation?) Intellectual property isn't the absolute black and white you seem to think it is.
Rental houses decided they didn't like independant films so they largely stopped buying. It decimated the low budget film market.
I must be missing something, what does that have to do with piracy?
Duplicating music in an attempt to avoid paying for it is still thieft.
No, it's still copyright infringement. It's not accurate to redefine theft to include activities that don't result in the loss of any of your property.
No, they have a right to attempt to sell their product. There's a difference.
Taking that work without compensation is stealing.
Nobody used Napster to "take" anything in the sense of depriving the owner of his property. What you're looking for is "copyright infringement".
Without the influx of money the record industry will have to downsize.
Darn, you mean they won't be able to afford as many lobbyists who try to destroy fair use and first sale rights and demand veto power over all computing technology?
No, I'm not condoning unauthorized duplication of copyrighted material. But what the **AAs are doing is far worse.
Do you REALLY think they don't have something to decipher all encrypted traffic?
Assuming a sufficiently good key length and algorithm, yes. Unless the NSA has a cluster of quantum computers, they're not going to brute-force a 128-bit key.
Remember the Clipper Chip and encryption export controls? Supported by Clinton and Gore, opposed by Bush and Ashcroft. Republicans aren't great on civil liberties, but I strongly dispute the implication that Democrats are any better.
If a Carbon app is optimized it will run as fast or faster then Cocoa apps (e.g. The Finder)
Finder is Carbon, and is hardly a ringing endorsement for it. Sure, it's possible to write bad code with any language or API, but I maintain that given equal amounts of developer time and expertise, a Cocoa app will be better than its Carbon equivalent.
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Or burn it to a CD and play it in any of the world's 27 jillion CD players, or re-rip as MP3 and play in any MP3 player. But bravo for not letting facts get in the way of a good rant.
That has nothing to do with DRM, that's just Apple declining to allow you to re-download music you previously bought (which they should do, even if they charge a small fee). Nothing in the DRM prevents you from backing up the protected files directly or burning an audio CD, and with a bit of effort you can transcode to unprotected AAC or MP3.
No they don't. The default user account is an "administrator" (in the admin and wheel groups), and thus can acquire root privileges, but is definitely not root.
I haven't pulled down the consol, but I'm willing to bet that I could write to any directory on the fs.
And I would be even more willing to bet against you. Try
And if I can't, it still doesn't change the fact that there is write access to
Nope.
Um, maybe they didn't have one? At any rate, the main point of the benchmarks (making the large assumption that they're legit) was to compare the PPC 970 to the G4, not x86. Although since the low-end single 970 beat the 3.0 P4, I'd imagine a high-end dual 970 would beat a dual P4/Xeon. We'll just have to wait a few more months to see.
It didn't sound that way to me, it's already common knowledge that the 3.0 P4 beats the 1.4 G4 at most stuff. The impression I got was that they didn't want to deflate Apple's Power Mac sales by pointing out that a much faster processor is due shortly. But then they found that G4 PMac sales are already in the tank, so it wouldn't do any harm (which is also common knowledge, so that doesn't entirely make sense). Of course this is assuming they're not fabricating numbers out of thin air.
With any luck Apple will be shipping IBM's PowerPC 970 in a few months. Add the rumors of IBM cutting deals with Apple to ship OS X on their servers, and things could get interesting again.
If SCO=Stryker, then IBM=Wolverine. Not too worried.
Absolutely right. I wouldn't be surprised to see some MS FUD based on this, e.g. "You really don't want to get involved with those Linux hooligans. Do anything they don't like and they'll attack your systems."
Actually it's not; you have to pay to distribute encoders or decoders.
Obviously false.
Do you have more than three Macs you will use to listen to that music?
Quite possibly yes. Or I might want to listen on a Mac that currently doesn't have an Internet connection to authenticate to Apple. Or Apple's site might be down for some reason. Or Apple might unilaterally decide to alter the terms. Or I might even want to listen on a PC.
I'm not upset with Apple's DRM implementation. It was the only way to get the record labels on board, and it's nowhere near as restrictive as Palladium looks to be. But like any DRM system, it will invariably inconvenience legitimate users.
Depends. That's true today, but it wasn't during the time of the G3 and PII. The forthcoming PowerPC 970 should eliminate or substantially reduce the difference.
incrementally upgrading a Mac is MUCH more difficult than a PC
Again, it depends. RAM and drives are identical. Graphics cards can be more expensive but not excessively so. I got a Mac Radeon 8500 last year for $160. Processor upgrades exist but are pretty expensive. Usually they're not worth it compared to buying a new system, but due to Motorola's ineptitude today's G4 towers aren't that much more advanced than the ones from 2000 (e.g. still no DDR support). So I got a 1.2GHz upgrade for my G4/400 for $600 and am quite happy with it. (Yes, I know I could get a complete PC system for less than that. It wouldn't run OS X, so I don't really care).
Import the protected AAC into a sound/movie editing app (I've used Sound Studio, somebody else said iMovie works too), export to AIFF, convert to MP3 or unprotected AAC. Should be fairly easy to AppleScript.
I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard that during the 1990s many CIA resources were diverted from investigating terrorist groups to fighting international movie and music piracy.
Me either. And what a lot of people don't realize is that excessive airline "safety" measures will result in *more* deaths. If I have to travel 500 miles and decide to drive because flying has become too inconvenient, there's a far greater chance I'll be killed in a car accident.
Just like the iPod, right?
Apple's prices for RAM and HD upgrades are insane. You'd save quite a bit getting those from third parties, although it wouldn't completely erase the difference.
Granted IBM's marketing was terrible, but I believe this was a major problem as well. I used OS/2 Warp in college and the lack of native apps was annoying. I recall a number of software companies whose response was "our Windows version works fine in OS/2".
Exactly. A year ago it might have made sense for Apple to switch to x86, but with the impending 970 release it would be silly. It would substantially reduce the currently huge demand for the 970, as buyers would fear the machines being obsoleted if Apple abandoned the PowerPC entirely. But HyperTransport is win-win for everybody (well, not MS and Intel, darn).
No, the ISP does not own the portion of the network from my NAT box to my computers. Per my contract with my ISP, I have exactly one machine connected to their network. That machine happens to be a Linksys router, and it happens to forward requests sent to it over *my* network, but that's none of their business.
I suspect we'd find the strength to go on living. Of course this is a false dilemna, as it ignores the many artists who have found that they can make money while giving away MP3s or text of their works.
Is it okay to xerox books to avoid paying a writer for his work?
No. Is it okay to quote a paragraph of a copyrighted work in order to criticize it? (Also, is it okay to misappropriate a trademark of the Xerox Corporation?) Intellectual property isn't the absolute black and white you seem to think it is.
Rental houses decided they didn't like independant films so they largely stopped buying. It decimated the low budget film market.
I must be missing something, what does that have to do with piracy?
Duplicating music in an attempt to avoid paying for it is still thieft.
No, it's still copyright infringement. It's not accurate to redefine theft to include activities that don't result in the loss of any of your property.
No, they have a right to attempt to sell their product. There's a difference.
Taking that work without compensation is stealing.
Nobody used Napster to "take" anything in the sense of depriving the owner of his property. What you're looking for is "copyright infringement".
Without the influx of money the record industry will have to downsize.
Darn, you mean they won't be able to afford as many lobbyists who try to destroy fair use and first sale rights and demand veto power over all computing technology?
No, I'm not condoning unauthorized duplication of copyrighted material. But what the **AAs are doing is far worse.
Assuming a sufficiently good key length and algorithm, yes. Unless the NSA has a cluster of quantum computers, they're not going to brute-force a 128-bit key.
Remember the Clipper Chip and encryption export controls? Supported by Clinton and Gore, opposed by Bush and Ashcroft. Republicans aren't great on civil liberties, but I strongly dispute the implication that Democrats are any better.
Macs don't use 64 bit processors yet. Wait 2 more months.
Finder is Carbon, and is hardly a ringing endorsement for it. Sure, it's possible to write bad code with any language or API, but I maintain that given equal amounts of developer time and expertise, a Cocoa app will be better than its Carbon equivalent.