Those are all just subsets of the "exceptional exception rule", based on the idea that if ANYONE else succeeded against all odds despite doing something stupid, then they can too. "Well, Einstein dropped out of school..."
And, as you pointed out, at the same time subtly linking themselves with their famous example.
Reread the quote. "If the end result is millions of thieves and few to no sales you're not going to stay in business very long."
The assumption is the MS or whomever can stay in business long enough to eventually "profit" years later. Since I've known several software companies that have folded due to piracy, that assumption is unwarranted.
"If you do a spotlight search from the menu bar, items in the drop down list cannot be dragged and dropped or have their path shown. You have to go 'Show All' if you want to actually USE that image you found."
The drop-down is a shortcut to opening (most common). Just type the word and hit return.
At least you made it to the second line. To me, any sentence that starts with "Dont know what distro you were using..." pretty much sums it up right there.
"Plus MS can consider pirating of their software as a marketing tool - an easy way to get to millions of people without investing anything."
Ummm... isn't the idea behind marketing getting people to buy your product? If the end result is millions of thieves and few to no sales you're not going to stay in business very long.
Since they're buying software, they own a computer, don't they? Put it on the net and you have a 'bot.
Besides, your "nothing to steal" argument doesn't hold up. Just because they bought it for a couple of bucks doesn't mean they're broke. How many well-off American college kids who could afford to pay retail still download software, movies, and mp3s off the net?
Yes I did, and part of "encouraging" the creation of new works is to allow them to make a living doing so. I want my best authors and singers and directors creating new works, and not standing down at WalMart greeting people as the come through the door just so they can pay the rent.
So? It's a work-around, and as far as I can tell, one not posted by Apple but by another user on a forum. You know, work-around? Since the AirPort firmware is easily upgraded wirelessly using the AirPort admin software, I've no doubt that an update will be forthcoming.
As to "that still wouldn't be a justification for an obvious bug in the base station's firmware", perhaps you'd like to point me to ANY other piece of complex software that contains no bugs whatsoever?
Actually, to me this just says that DRM implementations haven't caught up yet. Because what you're saying is that an "ideal" implementation WOULD let you use content you've purchased on any device you own, back it up, and so forth. It might let you "loan" a copy to a friend, and would let you resell or transfer the file/rights to another. It might let you exceprt portions for use in a school project.
In short, it would allow "fair use", and all while preventing you from "sharing" it with 10,000 of your closest friends.
"I completely disagree that an "artist" should get paid for the rest of their life for a song when the rest of the world gets paid by the hour."
While I agree that "the rest of their life" is too long, I do believe that the nature of the contract deserves some period (ten year, twenty?) during which potential compensation is protected and may be returned.
If you work by the hour then in all likelyhood you're getting paid by the hour, have access to health insurance, a retirement plan or pension, have paid sick and vacation days and other benefits, and have a very good chance (not 100%, but still) of that job being there when you show up tomorrow. In other words, it's low-risk, low-reward, and probably something that (literally) millions of people could do with little to no training.
An artist or author, OTOH, may spend years producing a work, and does so "on spec", with no guarantee that anyone will ever like it enough to pay for it. They pay their own insurance, have no benefits, and, if they take off a week due to sickness they aren't enjoying paid sick days. And even if one work does happen to be a "hit", the next one very well might not be. And in either case, royalties from earlier works help fund future ones. In short, their work entails a high degree of upfront risk, with a correspondingly high "potential" reward that, in actuality, few ever receive.
Fundamentally, the two situations are not parallel.
Finally, if you're one of those who're getting paid "by the hour" and simply can't stand the idea that someone else is a success then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Upgrade your skills. Go back to school. Take a risk. Create something that people are willing to pay for, and write your own book or program or song or whatever. Just do it... or, at the very least, stop whinning about it.
"If Jobs realized that it couldn't be successful without DRM and he really believed DRM was bad, he would have decided against opening the store in the first place.
Or he could, you know, like, open the store and let the MARKET decide how they felt about it.
Being "consistent" would have removed OUR choice in the matter. It's one thing to get on your high horse and make a decision. It's quite another to do so and assume that what you're doing is right for everyone else. For example, I've no doubt that a pro-life individual would be happy to stand up and make your decsion for you in that matter, but that ignores you right to choose for yourself.
Further, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Steve could well have accepted the idea that DRM is a neccessary evil and now, after years of actually running the business that's the iTMS and seeing the results, decided that it's no longer needed.
I "expect" people to be able to look at the world and have the wisdom and courage to change their minds if needed.
So? Any fork is not going to be Wikipedia (the site) and not have the "brand" and traffic that entails. And so what if a few contributors leave? Wikipedia is already the world's largest encyclopedia and besides, someone else will take their place.
Try putting Google ads on the search results page first. That way people have an "out" if the search fails to turn up anything of interest, you still aren't putting ads on the content page, but are still generating tens of thousands of ad page views daily..
Tell people that you need to do it to keep the servers and site up, and that these things take money. And any surplus generated by the ads (if any) will go to fund OSS projects.
"Apple has a legal obligation to act in the best financial interests of it's shareholders..."
So? Describe "best financial interests" for me please? Is it not in my shareholder's "best financial interests" to make great products that people want to buy? To invest dollars into R&D so you stay on top? To grow your customer base?
Further, you seem to have forgotten time as a factor. Is it in my shareholder's "best financial interests" to make as much money as possible this quarter? Or, perhaps, to grow the business so your iinvestment is still secure a decade from now?
Taking your "legal obligation to act in the best financial interests of it's shareholders" quote literally, as you seem to imply. is stupid, stupid, stupid. It's NOT solely about making as much money as possible in as little time as possible. And any company that thinks so isn't going to be around for very long...
You can. And then you can pay $300 again in six months when the flimsy POS dies and needs to be replaced. According to some stats I've seen most Macs are used and kept around for about four years, whereas the replacement rate for PCs is just two.
Further, note that all of the Macs are either Core or Core 2 Duos, whereas most of the cheap PCs and notebooks are hitting that $300 price point by using Centrinos. Or in other words, you get what you pay for...
As has been stated, whether or not a database "flag" existed it would have to be transmitted in the download to iTunes so that iTunes knows that it needs to encrypt the file. And that opens it up to a crack like inserting, say, a proxy that zaps the flag in transit, making all music DRM-free.
So now we need to authenticate or sign the file and flag, check back and validate with iTMS, and/or something else, all of which, I guarantee you, will take more than "an hour" to program and test.
And God save us from developers who spend all of an hour "patching" a system, since that pretty much guarantees they've failed to consider all of the ramifications of their actions.
It's not a threat to iTunes (I assume you mean iTMS, the store and not the software). As explained above in detail, Apple makes it's money from the hardware. As such, having more content to fill up iPods is "a good thing".
An analogy is the hardware companies that have embraced open source software. They too are in the business of selling hardware, and having a lot of free software customers can use to fill up those boxes only helps their bottom line.
Besides, on a per-item basis, Apple make more money off games, TV-shows, and movies, and the later of the two fill up players and hard drives even more. If MySpace wants to give away or sell cheap music then I doubt Apple cares all that much, other than to ask you if you're going to need the 80 or 120GB model to hold it all...
Slashdot Mirror
Those are all just subsets of the "exceptional exception rule", based on the idea that if ANYONE else succeeded against all odds despite doing something stupid, then they can too. "Well, Einstein dropped out of school..."
And, as you pointed out, at the same time subtly linking themselves with their famous example.
Reread the quote. "If the end result is millions of thieves and few to no sales you're not going to stay in business very long."
The assumption is the MS or whomever can stay in business long enough to eventually "profit" years later. Since I've known several software companies that have folded due to piracy, that assumption is unwarranted.
"Windows Lameness Home Premium Limited Signed Edition SP2."
Great! Now, did you want the full version, the System Builders version, or just the the upgrade?
"If you do a spotlight search from the menu bar, items in the drop down list cannot be dragged and dropped or have their path shown. You have to go 'Show All' if you want to actually USE that image you found."
The drop-down is a shortcut to opening (most common). Just type the word and hit return.
At least you made it to the second line. To me, any sentence that starts with "Dont know what distro you were using..." pretty much sums it up right there.
"Plus MS can consider pirating of their software as a marketing tool - an easy way to get to millions of people without investing anything."
Ummm... isn't the idea behind marketing getting people to buy your product? If the end result is millions of thieves and few to no sales you're not going to stay in business very long.
Since they're buying software, they own a computer, don't they? Put it on the net and you have a 'bot.
Besides, your "nothing to steal" argument doesn't hold up. Just because they bought it for a couple of bucks doesn't mean they're broke. How many well-off American college kids who could afford to pay retail still download software, movies, and mp3s off the net?
Yes, yes. This disk 100% virus-free. Completely safe! I promise!!!
Yes I did, and part of "encouraging" the creation of new works is to allow them to make a living doing so. I want my best authors and singers and directors creating new works, and not standing down at WalMart greeting people as the come through the door just so they can pay the rent.
So? It's a work-around, and as far as I can tell, one not posted by Apple but by another user on a forum. You know, work-around? Since the AirPort firmware is easily upgraded wirelessly using the AirPort admin software, I've no doubt that an update will be forthcoming.
As to "that still wouldn't be a justification for an obvious bug in the base station's firmware", perhaps you'd like to point me to ANY other piece of complex software that contains no bugs whatsoever?
Actually, to me this just says that DRM implementations haven't caught up yet. Because what you're saying is that an "ideal" implementation WOULD let you use content you've purchased on any device you own, back it up, and so forth. It might let you "loan" a copy to a friend, and would let you resell or transfer the file/rights to another. It might let you exceprt portions for use in a school project.
In short, it would allow "fair use", and all while preventing you from "sharing" it with 10,000 of your closest friends.
Point. One Best Buy near me had pulled nearly every computer and notebook off the floor in the week prior to the release.
"I completely disagree that an "artist" should get paid for the rest of their life for a song when the rest of the world gets paid by the hour."
While I agree that "the rest of their life" is too long, I do believe that the nature of the contract deserves some period (ten year, twenty?) during which potential compensation is protected and may be returned.
If you work by the hour then in all likelyhood you're getting paid by the hour, have access to health insurance, a retirement plan or pension, have paid sick and vacation days and other benefits, and have a very good chance (not 100%, but still) of that job being there when you show up tomorrow. In other words, it's low-risk, low-reward, and probably something that (literally) millions of people could do with little to no training.
An artist or author, OTOH, may spend years producing a work, and does so "on spec", with no guarantee that anyone will ever like it enough to pay for it. They pay their own insurance, have no benefits, and, if they take off a week due to sickness they aren't enjoying paid sick days. And even if one work does happen to be a "hit", the next one very well might not be. And in either case, royalties from earlier works help fund future ones. In short, their work entails a high degree of upfront risk, with a correspondingly high "potential" reward that, in actuality, few ever receive.
Fundamentally, the two situations are not parallel.
Finally, if you're one of those who're getting paid "by the hour" and simply can't stand the idea that someone else is a success then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Upgrade your skills. Go back to school. Take a risk. Create something that people are willing to pay for, and write your own book or program or song or whatever. Just do it... or, at the very least, stop whinning about it.
"If Jobs realized that it couldn't be successful without DRM and he really believed DRM was bad, he would have decided against opening the store in the first place.
Or he could, you know, like, open the store and let the MARKET decide how they felt about it.
Being "consistent" would have removed OUR choice in the matter. It's one thing to get on your high horse and make a decision. It's quite another to do so and assume that what you're doing is right for everyone else. For example, I've no doubt that a pro-life individual would be happy to stand up and make your decsion for you in that matter, but that ignores you right to choose for yourself.
Further, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Steve could well have accepted the idea that DRM is a neccessary evil and now, after years of actually running the business that's the iTMS and seeing the results, decided that it's no longer needed.
I "expect" people to be able to look at the world and have the wisdom and courage to change their minds if needed.
So? Any fork is not going to be Wikipedia (the site) and not have the "brand" and traffic that entails. And so what if a few contributors leave? Wikipedia is already the world's largest encyclopedia and besides, someone else will take their place.
Try putting Google ads on the search results page first. That way people have an "out" if the search fails to turn up anything of interest, you still aren't putting ads on the content page, but are still generating tens of thousands of ad page views daily..
Tell people that you need to do it to keep the servers and site up, and that these things take money. And any surplus generated by the ads (if any) will go to fund OSS projects.
Will it hurt to have no Wikipedia at all?
Yes.
You don't want to see My Precious???
"Apple has a legal obligation to act in the best financial interests of it's shareholders..."
So? Describe "best financial interests" for me please? Is it not in my shareholder's "best financial interests" to make great products that people want to buy? To invest dollars into R&D so you stay on top? To grow your customer base?
Further, you seem to have forgotten time as a factor. Is it in my shareholder's "best financial interests" to make as much money as possible this quarter? Or, perhaps, to grow the business so your iinvestment is still secure a decade from now?
Taking your "legal obligation to act in the best financial interests of it's shareholders" quote literally, as you seem to imply. is stupid, stupid, stupid. It's NOT solely about making as much money as possible in as little time as possible. And any company that thinks so isn't going to be around for very long...
Not only that, but it sounds like there's not "a" Symbian, but three of them, sort of like three really bad Lunix forks. See this article for more.
Nope, he's just selfish.
You can. And then you can pay $300 again in six months when the flimsy POS dies and needs to be replaced. According to some stats I've seen most Macs are used and kept around for about four years, whereas the replacement rate for PCs is just two.
Further, note that all of the Macs are either Core or Core 2 Duos, whereas most of the cheap PCs and notebooks are hitting that $300 price point by using Centrinos. Or in other words, you get what you pay for...
"The harder part would more likely be convincing the judge that the user was using a torrent client in this manner, rather than for downloading. "
Yeah, especially given the gigabytes of files found on the user's hard drive.
For that matter, one would think that a simple check of the ISPs records regarding bandwidth utilization would disprove this argument pretty easily.
As has been stated, whether or not a database "flag" existed it would have to be transmitted in the download to iTunes so that iTunes knows that it needs to encrypt the file. And that opens it up to a crack like inserting, say, a proxy that zaps the flag in transit, making all music DRM-free.
So now we need to authenticate or sign the file and flag, check back and validate with iTMS, and/or something else, all of which, I guarantee you, will take more than "an hour" to program and test.
And God save us from developers who spend all of an hour "patching" a system, since that pretty much guarantees they've failed to consider all of the ramifications of their actions.
It's not a threat to iTunes (I assume you mean iTMS, the store and not the software). As explained above in detail, Apple makes it's money from the hardware. As such, having more content to fill up iPods is "a good thing".
An analogy is the hardware companies that have embraced open source software. They too are in the business of selling hardware, and having a lot of free software customers can use to fill up those boxes only helps their bottom line.
Besides, on a per-item basis, Apple make more money off games, TV-shows, and movies, and the later of the two fill up players and hard drives even more. If MySpace wants to give away or sell cheap music then I doubt Apple cares all that much, other than to ask you if you're going to need the 80 or 120GB model to hold it all...