and to think we saved your asses in WWII - some friends you are.
This is a common misconception which many USians seem to have.
Fact is, the USA only became involved in WW2 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor - not out of any sense of goodwill or friendship, but merely because they wanted revenge.
In any case, Tony "W" Blair has more than repaid any help provided to Britain/Europe by his support and help in the non-sanctioned and illegal occupation of Iraq.
I'm glad to hear this, however, I don't see the United Nations as being the ideal organisation to administer the Internet.
The Internet has become a global network of networks, and whilst the original concept was devised in the US, it is important to remember that such concepts such as the Web Browser, hypertext, and other such goodies were invented and created outwith the US. So whilst I see a lot of posters claiming: "we invented it, we should keep control of it", I don't see them pushing for British control of web browser standards and the like.
Because the net is a global medium, it seems the correct thing to do to have it controlled by a global body; a global body which could/would be unbiased and not subject to the (IMO) unfair control the US Government has over the Internet.
Let's take a recent example: there was to be a.xxx TLD introduced. Bidding had taken place, companies chosen, and a lot of work had gone into the infrastructure and readying the Internet for this new TLD.
What happened? An unelected country in the global world that is "Cyberspace" decided on a whim not to introduce it, and could do so purely because it was in control of ICANN. That's one country out of hundreds of connected countries.
With a global body, made up of representatives from many different countries, there would be proper accountability, transparency, and I've not even gone into the possibilities of the US shutting down the DNS to unsympathetic countries - similar to how it retains the right to shutdown the GPS system as it sees fit, and didn't want the EU to create Galileo - purely because they wouldn't have control.
I don't have a source, but from my experience with Orange (in the UK), I've found it to be the same as the OP.
One day while I was sending text messages I was getting a surprisingly high percentage of failed sends, so I called their technical helpline, gave my postal code etc and was told the base station nearest to me was undergoing maintanence and thus would have a reduced capacity for around 24 hours, and because voice traffic had priority over SMS/data there may be intermittent issues.
I once purchased a CD album via iTMS to use on my iPod.
As a subscriber to Napster, I found after a hard drive crash I was able to re-download all the music I had purchased/downloaded previously via the service. I don't think it's naive to expect the iTMS to have a similar function; how hard it is to store a list of all tracks purchased under a customer's userid?
Backups are all well and good, however I shouldn't feel the need to backup music - especially when it's to compensate for the failings of a specific online service.
The customers should be able to purchase a CD unencumbered with DRM'd files - I don't have any problems converting real CDs to MP3 on either PC or Mac.
Open Source, in terms of GPL, means that the source is available either by free of charge download of via CD/DVD at cost price. The seller can sell the binaries for as much as they like, but regardless of the price, the source will be available as mentioned previously.
Or, if like I was this summer, you're on vacation and staying in a hotel with either wifi or ethernet ports, rather than use the hotel's phone system or pay International Roaming charges to phone home - I can use my cellphone as a handset to talk via the Skype system rather than be limited with a fixed wired headset.
This is very true, however if kids don't get the opportunity to learn from their mistakes then how are they meant to grow up and become sensible, normal human beings?
Before leaving the Windows world, I used the following programs because I couldn't find a free one to get work done. I'll list the price I remember paying:
WsFtp (~40)
PhotoImpact(80)
Quicken (30)
Spybot - Detect and Destroy (free, donated $15)
MS Access - (300 ?, needed a DB program)
MS Visual Basic ($99, not full version which costs as much as $699 IIRC)
Tiny Firewall (was free when I used it, it seems to be $49 now)
Cost I had to pay: $550 (Not including donation)
You're not really comparing like for like though; let's go through that list again...
My children (most probably) won't have to go to a dead tree Encyclopedia Brittanica to do term paper research and thus have the opportnity (like I did) to find interesting articles while flipping thru the pages trying to find the proper article
Maybe not, however even now at the age of 22 I regularly find myself on Wikipedia hours after I've read the initial article I was looking for in the first place.
Good luck collecting that. Private entities cannot "fine" people and expect it to be enforced on anything other than a voluntary basis.
It could be included as part of the contract between the game owners and the players, and if not paid then the game owners could pass it down a collections process eventually involving debt recovery companies and if necessary legal action if said debt remained unpaid.
It's a great idea in theory - even have existing adult sites such as example-adult-site.com become example-adult-site.com.xxx for convenience.
However, therein lies the legal issues - the Internet is used in hundreds of countries across the world. Do you really think all countries with an Internet presence are going to force adult websites operating under the global domain name that is.com to switch?
You're paying for the cost of particular service - the service in question being the cable or satellite service and package you are subscribed to. The contract for this service is between you and the cable/satellite provider.
Now, as part of the package you subscribe to, the cable/satellite co includes certain channels - channels which require to show their own adverts to be able to break even/make profit.
And here was I thinking the actual news in this article was that the Tivo service would be legal - a concept obviously not understood by many posters here - and that it would be geared towards the mass market rather than those who know how to use Bittorrent and connect a computer to their TV, etc.
Where do you get the 10,000 crashes under Windows XP from? I don't seem to remember having any application from the MS Office Suite crashing while using Windows XP.
Of course, the good thing is that in the UK the authorities must publish locations of automatic fixed cameras and also mobile speed cameras. That, and automatic cameras must be visible marked yellow. Oh and safety camera detection devices are legal to use.
In other words, if I'm as daft as to speed through a speed camera I deserve to get my punishment - firstly for breaking the law and secondly for not seeing the camera.
Then you are a thief, plain and simple. Justify it however you want however it doesn't change the facts.
The correct procedure to have followed in this case would be to either pay for the extended warranty of buy a new Xbox.
Look at it this way: if you justify stealing from Walmart because a product is out of warranty and you didn't bother to buy an extended warranty then the logical continuation of this is that all "customers" would be justified in doing so.
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This is a common misconception which many USians seem to have.
Fact is, the USA only became involved in WW2 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor - not out of any sense of goodwill or friendship, but merely because they wanted revenge.
In any case, Tony "W" Blair has more than repaid any help provided to Britain/Europe by his support and help in the non-sanctioned and illegal occupation of Iraq.
The Internet has become a global network of networks, and whilst the original concept was devised in the US, it is important to remember that such concepts such as the Web Browser, hypertext, and other such goodies were invented and created outwith the US. So whilst I see a lot of posters claiming: "we invented it, we should keep control of it", I don't see them pushing for British control of web browser standards and the like.
Because the net is a global medium, it seems the correct thing to do to have it controlled by a global body; a global body which could/would be unbiased and not subject to the (IMO) unfair control the US Government has over the Internet.
Let's take a recent example: there was to be a .xxx TLD introduced. Bidding had taken place, companies chosen, and a lot of work had gone into the infrastructure and readying the Internet for this new TLD.
What happened? An unelected country in the global world that is "Cyberspace" decided on a whim not to introduce it, and could do so purely because it was in control of ICANN. That's one country out of hundreds of connected countries.
With a global body, made up of representatives from many different countries, there would be proper accountability, transparency, and I've not even gone into the possibilities of the US shutting down the DNS to unsympathetic countries - similar to how it retains the right to shutdown the GPS system as it sees fit, and didn't want the EU to create Galileo - purely because they wouldn't have control.
Breach of copyright law is breach of copyright law is breach of copyright law, whatever way you look at it.
One day while I was sending text messages I was getting a surprisingly high percentage of failed sends, so I called their technical helpline, gave my postal code etc and was told the base station nearest to me was undergoing maintanence and thus would have a reduced capacity for around 24 hours, and because voice traffic had priority over SMS/data there may be intermittent issues.
As a subscriber to Napster, I found after a hard drive crash I was able to re-download all the music I had purchased/downloaded previously via the service. I don't think it's naive to expect the iTMS to have a similar function; how hard it is to store a list of all tracks purchased under a customer's userid?
Backups are all well and good, however I shouldn't feel the need to backup music - especially when it's to compensate for the failings of a specific online service.
The customers should be able to purchase a CD unencumbered with DRM'd files - I don't have any problems converting real CDs to MP3 on either PC or Mac.
However, you seem to have a rather naive view of the world. Not everyone wants to use Linux, not everyone sees it as a godsend in the way you do.
A lot of people use Windows for very good reasons; applications which don't work under Linux, ease of use, the "eye candy, amongst other things.
Oh, and I've never had one bit of spyware nor any viruses infect my Windows system. Ever. Maybe I just know how to take care of my system?
Open Source, in terms of GPL, means that the source is available either by free of charge download of via CD/DVD at cost price. The seller can sell the binaries for as much as they like, but regardless of the price, the source will be available as mentioned previously.
Or, if like I was this summer, you're on vacation and staying in a hotel with either wifi or ethernet ports, rather than use the hotel's phone system or pay International Roaming charges to phone home - I can use my cellphone as a handset to talk via the Skype system rather than be limited with a fixed wired headset.
This is very true, however if kids don't get the opportunity to learn from their mistakes then how are they meant to grow up and become sensible, normal human beings?
Take away these Baby Bells and I'm sure the vast majority of the Internet will function absolutely fine. That is, those countries outwith the US.
WsFtp (~40)
PhotoImpact(80)
Quicken (30)
Spybot - Detect and Destroy (free, donated $15)
MS Access - (300 ?, needed a DB program)
MS Visual Basic ($99, not full version which costs as much as $699 IIRC)
Tiny Firewall (was free when I used it, it seems to be $49 now)
Cost I had to pay: $550 (Not including donation)
You're not really comparing like for like though; let's go through that list again...
FileZilla
The GIMP
Grisbi Personal Finance Manager (Windows & Linux)
Ad Aware
AVG AntiVirus
Services for Unix(make, GCC, etc)
OpenOffice.org Base
Windows Firewall / ZoneAlarm Personal Edition
Total Cost: 0
I would also add that these are still high quality applications - not poor quality abandonware/freeware.
Maybe not, however even now at the age of 22 I regularly find myself on Wikipedia hours after I've read the initial article I was looking for in the first place.
It could be included as part of the contract between the game owners and the players, and if not paid then the game owners could pass it down a collections process eventually involving debt recovery companies and if necessary legal action if said debt remained unpaid.
Wikipedia Link to ACCOLDC (ACCess OverLoad Control scheme).
However, therein lies the legal issues - the Internet is used in hundreds of countries across the world. Do you really think all countries with an Internet presence are going to force adult websites operating under the global domain name that is .com to switch?
Now, as part of the package you subscribe to, the cable/satellite co includes certain channels - channels which require to show their own adverts to be able to break even/make profit.
Perhaps. On the other hand, how would you charge the population for the Internet equivalent of road and fuel tax?
It's not like you see them paying vehicle manufacturers or house builders for creating the markets for car and home insurance is it?
And here was I thinking the actual news in this article was that the Tivo service would be legal - a concept obviously not understood by many posters here - and that it would be geared towards the mass market rather than those who know how to use Bittorrent and connect a computer to their TV, etc.
Where do you get the 10,000 crashes under Windows XP from? I don't seem to remember having any application from the MS Office Suite crashing while using Windows XP.
Not if the kernel was then redistributed by Google, which I don't *think* it has.
In other words, if I'm as daft as to speed through a speed camera I deserve to get my punishment - firstly for breaking the law and secondly for not seeing the camera.
Nope, it's just free store credit that they're not entitled to. Free store credit which ultimately raises costs for actual customers.
The correct procedure to have followed in this case would be to either pay for the extended warranty of buy a new Xbox.
Look at it this way: if you justify stealing from Walmart because a product is out of warranty and you didn't bother to buy an extended warranty then the logical continuation of this is that all "customers" would be justified in doing so.