With OSX, that's a lot easier to avoid than with Windows. You can treat your Mac as a UNIX box with some extra applications, and you can shift to Linux or FreeBSD or Solaris if you have to. That's what open systems get you... the ability to make yourself independent of what any particular implementation of that system does... because none of the players controls the system. Not the FSF, Apple, the FreeBSD project, or Sun.
You can do this with ANY x86 box. There is no hardware lock in from MS since they're not producing the hardware! (Oh, all of this except OSX since they have this really awkward way of forcing people to buy their hardware to support their software. Talk about lock in. If the same were true of MS we'd hear howls from the peanut gallery, instead we hear "wow, that's really neat because it's not MS")
Lock in is lock in. Let's not skirt around the real issue here. I don't know if Apple has anthing to gain but they certainly have Linux users pissed.
They just make the Linux users mad, who could have bought their hardware and when they don't allow Linux, they soon die
Maybe I'm reading something into this but did you just proclaim that without the Linux community's dollars that Apple will "soon die"?
think of Dell, after offering Ubuntu, how many Linux users will have their next computer be a Dell? Chances are many. Once ATI opens up its drivers, how many people will have ATI video cards in a new computer? Probably alot. That was how HP, nVidia and now Dell got ahead.
Hold on here a bit. Are you again proclaiming that the growth of HP in recent years has been mainly because of Linux?
Man, it's great to see all the same people who bash MS endlessly and offer up Apple as an alternative right after Linux getting their panties in a bunch over this.
I am sincerely bothered by the number of Linux users who, by some really twisted logic, are willing to suggest Apple as an alternative to Linux but in the same breath scream "lock in" about Microsoft.
This move by Apple isn't news at all. It's just yet another example of a vendor that scoffs at their buying public by enforcing both software and hardware lock in. At least in these kinds of cases you have a better chance with Microsoft.
Go ahead and call me an astroturfer all you want. I know that my iPod is going to work fine with Windows. So while you're bashing me and supporting Steve Jobs just remember who did what to make this into an issue in the first place.
All of you open technology types who recommend Apple for any reason need to do a reality check. While they may not be as large as Microsoft their business practices and agenda are certainly worse.
"Central hub"? No. The "threat" was that "the man on the street" was going to tape albums, not that record rental shops were cranking out pirate copies.
But it's still a central hub. Or are you claiming that it's the servers of eMule that are downloading the material? How does that stand with the question of BitTorrent?
Uh, yes. As I said, they (or at least their heyday) were earlier than "the days of Walkmans and boom boxes."
Nice attempt at a save. What you said was that 8-tracks came later (in a fairly snide fashion, I may add). My post cleary remarked "70s and 80s". My original comment that the snide remark was made about had nothing to do with record rentals. So I don't know where you come off being self-righteous about it.
30 million for such a feat? Bah! There will be no serious contestants. We need to pass around the hat and get that up to a reputable figure that will bring out the serious engineers and rocket scientists.
I'll do my part. The pot is now up to $30,000,005.00.
Besides, you can still hang out, swill beer and even make bets on the outcome of a Starcraft match. I've seen it done.
I know there is a CounterStrike mod that allows eliminated players to bet on the outcome of a match using in-game funds.
But as a drinking game? My idea is to use it as a handicap and not a punishment. Let the survivors of the winning team drink a drink or two to help level the playing field. I think it would have some interesting results.
Not in the fashion of "Why is this on Slashdot!!??!?oneone!!" but more of a "watching people play video games is boring" way.
The great thing about video games is that, for the most part, I can wake up at 4 AM and still get my game on. I don't need to go someplace or find people to play them with.
Organized team sports are interesting to the public because it involves the swilling of beer and a bunch of guys out on a field doing something as teams. I'd be hard pressed to get enough people together to play a legal game of baseball or football. Luckily with video games I don't need to worry about it.
And even with a large group of skilled professional athletes there really isn't too much of a thrill in watching someone else play anyway.
It's like advertising toilet paper when you're the only people on Earth who makes it, why would you spend good money on such stupidity?
What is all this banter? Where was all this naysaying when there was big advertisements for the iPhone, The Wii or Gears of War?
And just as a side note: Coca Cola is one of the largest spenders of advertisement dollars on a single product. Coca Cola is far far better known compared to any video game ever. Coca Cola also turns a pretty hefty profit.
Come back and question the motivation when you've made as much cash as Coke has without advertising your cola.
I agree. Especially on storage. It seems for years I've been hearing where Seagate or IBM or whomever has a new tech that is going to do XX GB per square centimeter and it will be on the market in three to five years... we're still having issues getting beyond blu-ray/hd-dvd. Does this technology take forever to filter down or are we being taken on a ride of fantasy yet again?
And don't get me wrong, I'm not a naysayer. I was for this to happen. I want a PDA sized gadget with all my music and the library on congress on with the battery life of a nuclear submarine but I know that not a whole hell of a lot has changed on the shelves of Best Buy.
Actually, it's my nephew. I bring my brother up as his father. But I know where you're coming from and so should my brother as he did the same thing too. But again, he's into this thing where he thinks his son is going to flourish in his own place and time. It just doesn't happen from what I've seen, at least not without having some great talent.
Too many parents like to think of their kids as little Einsteins. It's too bad really, the sooner a parent sees that his kid is going to have to struggle just like everyone else the better off their kid is going to be for it.
I wish you the best of luck with your new outlook. 24 isn't too bad, I know of people with nearly 20 years on you going through the same thing.
This article is about recording devices and the medium, not the content of the medium. Also note that the article never touches on distribution of copyrighted materials, that's what is largely at question.
You're taking a snippet of the whole out of context and that's a dangerous thing to do in law.
But if you really think you're right feel free to contest it in a court of law. I'm pretty sure I already know how it will turn out for you.
FTB: I've literally heard that out of the mouths of art school faculty: Go get your bachelor's degree at a traditional university, then come back and apply to art school after you've learned a little more about the world.
It's actually surprising for me to see this and I think it puts the gaming schools in a much better light than I had put them in earlier.
I've got a near-16 year old nephew who seems to think that he can skirt around the parameters of traditional education and still come out on top working in the gaming field. I can't blame him though... I also have a brother who doesn't seem to know that there is a not-so fine line between being a genius and being a little smarter then most kids of the same age but being a lazy unmotivated slob. He's all too convinced that things will fall together when they need to. If only he knew that these things needed to start to fall together a few years ago.
That is true enough. Without being able to get to your link (at work) I sat and thought about it. The fact is that such family classics as The Bad News Bears (1976) would get an M rating by the ESRB if it were a video game. Look at it:
So, yes, the RIAA was concerned with copying back in the days of Walkmans and boom boxes.
I never said they weren't concerned. Why is it that Slashdotters love to read something into what was never said and then have the balls to come off smug about it? But since you bring it up: once again you're talking about a central hub of "piracy" and not breaking down to the level where you were pursuing the man on the street. It kinda makes me pissed that I have to convey this message is such a fashion but since people want to read their own thoughts into my posts while missing the entire point...
(8 tracks were a little earlier, Junior.)
Huh? I clearly remember 8-tracks in the 70s. I owned quiet a few myself. Oh, that's right, you were too busy putting some words into my post that I never typed to be bothered with reading what I had written in black and white, gramps.
And as a further FYI: (From Wikipedia) There is a debate among collectors about what was the last commercially released 8 track by a major label, but many agree it was Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits in November 1988.[2] The last 8-track tapes by major recording companies were from record and tape clubs in 1988 like RCA (BMG Music) and Columbia House (CRC). There are reports of bootleg 8-track tapes being made in Mexico as late as 1995 [1]. Some independent artists have released 8-track tapes as late as 2006 [2].
Here's the problem with your scenario: It's a temporary situation. Things that make life hard "on the little guy" like poverty are only bad if you have no real hope of escaping it. If you're telling me that I could have a real shot at being president if I lived in a slum for a month I'd jump at the chance. It's a much easier path for me to take for the presidency than hoping to raise a few hundred million dollars and spin the wheel.
They only winked at it because recording to analog tape is inherrently lossy no matter how good your equipment is.
No.
Nobody publicised their music sharing to the world back in the tape days.
Yes.
You see, the reason it's prosecuted so widely today is that we have, for the first time in our history, the ability to make a large number of copies available for what is essentially no cost to us and for what is a somewhat insignificant cost for the RIAA to investigate.
Do you really think that the RIAA considered going around in a car in the 70s and 80s and stopping kids with portable 8-track players, Walkmans and boom boxes and demanding that they produce proof of ownership of the music? It had nothing to do with the quality of the copies, it has to do with the practicality of the situation.
my question has always been, "why was it okay for my to make copies of my vinyl albums, put them on cassette, and give it to a friend but it's not okay for me to make a copy of a cd and give that cd copy to the same friend?"
Quote me the law that says it's ok (as in legal) to give out a copy to a friend.
Just because the practice is winked at doesn't make it legal. I think it's just a matter that the technology has not only given people a better and easier way to distribute it but it's also given way to an easier and better way to enact the law.
Actually, the repositioning of the planet does change the features on a certain level. While it may not have much impact on galactic observations this stellar parallax is being observed. I know a scope monkey at The Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh who does this sort of thing.
To the extent that what a company as large as Wal-Mart chooses has an limiting effect on what someone else can choose, I'd say there is cause for objection.
SHOP SOMEWHERE ELSE! It's called freewill. Use it!
And if you want to take a look at the decline of civilization, look into the numerous reports of Wal-Mart's unsavory labor and business practices.
I'm not shopping at Walmart as it is. I use my freewill without feeling the need to bitch about a business exercising their rights. It's a simple system. If people use it it actually works! I really really find it annoying that people feel slighted that they're so unconvinced that they would have to go to another store to buy the latest Ice Cube album. Jesus. Let these people use their rights to choose! Why is it that you people are so hellbent on forcing them into selling what you find socially acceptable? And don't say that you're not or you wouldn't bother to offset what I've said.
So, if Walmart decides to not sell your product, you're pretty much in the same boat as someone whose software MS excludes from running on Windows. Yeah, there are other stores just as there are other operating systems, but they're at a huge disadvantage in the market place.
Very bad analogy. First off, Microsoft has a much greater share of the desktop market then what WalMart has of any market. Even if WalMart is #1 that doesn't mean it's in the majority. Hell, with enough retailers in place a 3-4% market share could make a retailer #1.
Besides, no one forces you to shop WalMart. The difference of going to another store and having another PC or VM-solution to run non-windows software is worlds apart.
Aside from house brands there isn't anything that is sold at WalMart that you can't get elsewhere. Use your dollars as votes, people. It's not that hard.
Slashdot Mirror
With OSX, that's a lot easier to avoid than with Windows. You can treat your Mac as a UNIX box with some extra applications, and you can shift to Linux or FreeBSD or Solaris if you have to. That's what open systems get you... the ability to make yourself independent of what any particular implementation of that system does... because none of the players controls the system. Not the FSF, Apple, the FreeBSD project, or Sun.
You can do this with ANY x86 box. There is no hardware lock in from MS since they're not producing the hardware! (Oh, all of this except OSX since they have this really awkward way of forcing people to buy their hardware to support their software. Talk about lock in. If the same were true of MS we'd hear howls from the peanut gallery, instead we hear "wow, that's really neat because it's not MS")
Really, what does Apple have to gain for this?
Lock in is lock in. Let's not skirt around the real issue here. I don't know if Apple has anthing to gain but they certainly have Linux users pissed.
They just make the Linux users mad, who could have bought their hardware and when they don't allow Linux, they soon die
Maybe I'm reading something into this but did you just proclaim that without the Linux community's dollars that Apple will "soon die"?
think of Dell, after offering Ubuntu, how many Linux users will have their next computer be a Dell? Chances are many. Once ATI opens up its drivers, how many people will have ATI video cards in a new computer? Probably alot. That was how HP, nVidia and now Dell got ahead.
Hold on here a bit. Are you again proclaiming that the growth of HP in recent years has been mainly because of Linux?
Man, it's great to see all the same people who bash MS endlessly and offer up Apple as an alternative right after Linux getting their panties in a bunch over this.
I am sincerely bothered by the number of Linux users who, by some really twisted logic, are willing to suggest Apple as an alternative to Linux but in the same breath scream "lock in" about Microsoft.
This move by Apple isn't news at all. It's just yet another example of a vendor that scoffs at their buying public by enforcing both software and hardware lock in. At least in these kinds of cases you have a better chance with Microsoft.
Go ahead and call me an astroturfer all you want. I know that my iPod is going to work fine with Windows. So while you're bashing me and supporting Steve Jobs just remember who did what to make this into an issue in the first place.
All of you open technology types who recommend Apple for any reason need to do a reality check. While they may not be as large as Microsoft their business practices and agenda are certainly worse.
"Central hub"? No. The "threat" was that "the man on the street" was going to tape albums, not that record rental shops were cranking out pirate copies.
But it's still a central hub. Or are you claiming that it's the servers of eMule that are downloading the material? How does that stand with the question of BitTorrent?
Uh, yes. As I said, they (or at least their heyday) were earlier than "the days of Walkmans and boom boxes."
Nice attempt at a save. What you said was that 8-tracks came later (in a fairly snide fashion, I may add). My post cleary remarked "70s and 80s". My original comment that the snide remark was made about had nothing to do with record rentals. So I don't know where you come off being self-righteous about it.
30 million for such a feat? Bah! There will be no serious contestants. We need to pass around the hat and get that up to a reputable figure that will bring out the serious engineers and rocket scientists.
I'll do my part. The pot is now up to $30,000,005.00.
That's cash money!
Besides, you can still hang out, swill beer and even make bets on the outcome of a Starcraft match. I've seen it done.
I know there is a CounterStrike mod that allows eliminated players to bet on the outcome of a match using in-game funds.
But as a drinking game? My idea is to use it as a handicap and not a punishment. Let the survivors of the winning team drink a drink or two to help level the playing field. I think it would have some interesting results.
I kinda give this a "Ah, who cares" vote.
Not in the fashion of "Why is this on Slashdot!!??!?oneone!!" but more of a "watching people play video games is boring" way.
The great thing about video games is that, for the most part, I can wake up at 4 AM and still get my game on. I don't need to go someplace or find people to play them with.
Organized team sports are interesting to the public because it involves the swilling of beer and a bunch of guys out on a field doing something as teams. I'd be hard pressed to get enough people together to play a legal game of baseball or football. Luckily with video games I don't need to worry about it.
And even with a large group of skilled professional athletes there really isn't too much of a thrill in watching someone else play anyway.
It's like advertising toilet paper when you're the only people on Earth who makes it, why would you spend good money on such stupidity?
What is all this banter? Where was all this naysaying when there was big advertisements for the iPhone, The Wii or Gears of War?
And just as a side note: Coca Cola is one of the largest spenders of advertisement dollars on a single product. Coca Cola is far far better known compared to any video game ever. Coca Cola also turns a pretty hefty profit.
Come back and question the motivation when you've made as much cash as Coke has without advertising your cola.
"They can take away my geekdom, but they can't take away my FREEDOM!!!!"
Imagine, 10,000GB of RAM.
I have that in my laptop. Unfortunately I only have a 2 gig harddrive but I do have 56k on my video card.
I agree. Especially on storage. It seems for years I've been hearing where Seagate or IBM or whomever has a new tech that is going to do XX GB per square centimeter and it will be on the market in three to five years... we're still having issues getting beyond blu-ray/hd-dvd. Does this technology take forever to filter down or are we being taken on a ride of fantasy yet again?
And don't get me wrong, I'm not a naysayer. I was for this to happen. I want a PDA sized gadget with all my music and the library on congress on with the battery life of a nuclear submarine but I know that not a whole hell of a lot has changed on the shelves of Best Buy.
Actually, it's my nephew. I bring my brother up as his father. But I know where you're coming from and so should my brother as he did the same thing too. But again, he's into this thing where he thinks his son is going to flourish in his own place and time. It just doesn't happen from what I've seen, at least not without having some great talent.
Too many parents like to think of their kids as little Einsteins. It's too bad really, the sooner a parent sees that his kid is going to have to struggle just like everyone else the better off their kid is going to be for it.
I wish you the best of luck with your new outlook. 24 isn't too bad, I know of people with nearly 20 years on you going through the same thing.
This article is about recording devices and the medium, not the content of the medium. Also note that the article never touches on distribution of copyrighted materials, that's what is largely at question.
You're taking a snippet of the whole out of context and that's a dangerous thing to do in law.
But if you really think you're right feel free to contest it in a court of law. I'm pretty sure I already know how it will turn out for you.
FTB: I've literally heard that out of the mouths of art school faculty: Go get your bachelor's degree at a traditional university, then come back and apply to art school after you've learned a little more about the world.
It's actually surprising for me to see this and I think it puts the gaming schools in a much better light than I had put them in earlier.
I've got a near-16 year old nephew who seems to think that he can skirt around the parameters of traditional education and still come out on top working in the gaming field. I can't blame him though... I also have a brother who doesn't seem to know that there is a not-so fine line between being a genius and being a little smarter then most kids of the same age but being a lazy unmotivated slob. He's all too convinced that things will fall together when they need to. If only he knew that these things needed to start to fall together a few years ago.
That is true enough. Without being able to get to your link (at work) I sat and thought about it. The fact is that such family classics as The Bad News Bears (1976) would get an M rating by the ESRB if it were a video game. Look at it:
1. Smoking
2. Drinking
3. Underage drinking
4. Mild violence
5. Mild racism
6. Suggestive themes
And for the love of God that film has a scene with an eight year old boy in his underwear!
The ESRB would have a field day with this movie. The MPAA should have made this at least rated R.
So, yes, the RIAA was concerned with copying back in the days of Walkmans and boom boxes.
I never said they weren't concerned. Why is it that Slashdotters love to read something into what was never said and then have the balls to come off smug about it? But since you bring it up: once again you're talking about a central hub of "piracy" and not breaking down to the level where you were pursuing the man on the street. It kinda makes me pissed that I have to convey this message is such a fashion but since people want to read their own thoughts into my posts while missing the entire point...
(8 tracks were a little earlier, Junior.)
Huh? I clearly remember 8-tracks in the 70s. I owned quiet a few myself. Oh, that's right, you were too busy putting some words into my post that I never typed to be bothered with reading what I had written in black and white, gramps.
And as a further FYI: (From Wikipedia) There is a debate among collectors about what was the last commercially released 8 track by a major label, but many agree it was Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits in November 1988.[2] The last 8-track tapes by major recording companies were from record and tape clubs in 1988 like RCA (BMG Music) and Columbia House (CRC). There are reports of bootleg 8-track tapes being made in Mexico as late as 1995 [1]. Some independent artists have released 8-track tapes as late as 2006 [2].
So shove it.
Here's the problem with your scenario: It's a temporary situation. Things that make life hard "on the little guy" like poverty are only bad if you have no real hope of escaping it. If you're telling me that I could have a real shot at being president if I lived in a slum for a month I'd jump at the chance. It's a much easier path for me to take for the presidency than hoping to raise a few hundred million dollars and spin the wheel.
They only winked at it because recording to analog tape is inherrently lossy no matter how good your equipment is.
No.
Nobody publicised their music sharing to the world back in the tape days.
Yes.
You see, the reason it's prosecuted so widely today is that we have, for the first time in our history, the ability to make a large number of copies available for what is essentially no cost to us and for what is a somewhat insignificant cost for the RIAA to investigate.
Do you really think that the RIAA considered going around in a car in the 70s and 80s and stopping kids with portable 8-track players, Walkmans and boom boxes and demanding that they produce proof of ownership of the music? It had nothing to do with the quality of the copies, it has to do with the practicality of the situation.
Ok, so say it. I really don't know what you're getting at here.
my question has always been, "why was it okay for my to make copies of my vinyl albums, put them on cassette, and give it to a friend but it's not okay for me to make a copy of a cd and give that cd copy to the same friend?"
Quote me the law that says it's ok (as in legal) to give out a copy to a friend.
Just because the practice is winked at doesn't make it legal. I think it's just a matter that the technology has not only given people a better and easier way to distribute it but it's also given way to an easier and better way to enact the law.
Pop culture politics now takes on the guise of legitimate science!
I'm sure Rush Limbaugh and Micheal Moore fans are thrilled and whooping up a storm over this.
Next time around elections will be held in a reality TV format, much like Survivor.
I guess this beats the old saw dust or kitty litter tricks.
Actually, the repositioning of the planet does change the features on a certain level. While it may not have much impact on galactic observations this stellar parallax is being observed. I know a scope monkey at The Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh who does this sort of thing.
To the extent that what a company as large as Wal-Mart chooses has an limiting effect on what someone else can choose, I'd say there is cause for objection.
SHOP SOMEWHERE ELSE! It's called freewill. Use it!
And if you want to take a look at the decline of civilization, look into the numerous reports of Wal-Mart's unsavory labor and business practices.
I'm not shopping at Walmart as it is. I use my freewill without feeling the need to bitch about a business exercising their rights. It's a simple system. If people use it it actually works! I really really find it annoying that people feel slighted that they're so unconvinced that they would have to go to another store to buy the latest Ice Cube album. Jesus. Let these people use their rights to choose! Why is it that you people are so hellbent on forcing them into selling what you find socially acceptable? And don't say that you're not or you wouldn't bother to offset what I've said.
So, if Walmart decides to not sell your product, you're pretty much in the same boat as someone whose software MS excludes from running on Windows. Yeah, there are other stores just as there are other operating systems, but they're at a huge disadvantage in the market place.
Very bad analogy. First off, Microsoft has a much greater share of the desktop market then what WalMart has of any market. Even if WalMart is #1 that doesn't mean it's in the majority. Hell, with enough retailers in place a 3-4% market share could make a retailer #1.
Besides, no one forces you to shop WalMart. The difference of going to another store and having another PC or VM-solution to run non-windows software is worlds apart.
Aside from house brands there isn't anything that is sold at WalMart that you can't get elsewhere. Use your dollars as votes, people. It's not that hard.