But that's me protecting stuff that I want to protect. I do not want my music protected. I want to be able to play it on any device, and I don't want to have to ask Microsoft for permission to do so. It's the reason I don't buy iTunes, because the next player I buy may not be an iPod, and I don't want to repurchase all of my music, or even have to find some way to break the DRM.
Is that the same target audience that continues to use IE, even though they've gotten tons of virus from simply visiting a web site, or continue to use windows, even though they've gotten viruses from doing nothing except hooking their computer up to the internet? Sounds like a pretty large target audience to me.
Since when does Apple have a monopoly on music? There's these places called music stores. You can find them in malls. They sell music on shiny plastic discs. These discs are easily copied onto your computer, and onto any portable device. You can play them in your car, on your home stereo, and in many other places.
But the Zune is not a "plays for sure" device. Just as the iPod is not a "plays for sure" device. The Zune hasn't even been released yet, so it's not like they promised anybody that music they bought would play on the device. I think it's a little underhanded because MS makes the device, that you'd think it would support "plays for sure", however, as long as they don't advertise it as such, I don't think they have done anything wrong. I also think it will show the general public just how bad an idea DRM is. Ever have a CD stop playing because a new player came out? Not likely. I think that this, along with people buying a Zune/something else, and not being able to figure out why they can't play their iTunes, will be the events that bring DRM down.
I asked the guy at the local Walmart, and he said they were getting 7 Wiis for release day. I think that may create a little bit of a shortage. Although there's many other store in this city, I still think there will be a shortage. Assuming each store getting Wiis gets the same number, then there's about 200 Wiis for a city of 1 Million people. That's not too many to go around. Granted, I don't know how many they will be able to get after release date, but as it stands now, getting one on release date is going to be pretty hard.
Another voice here stating how bad the PS2 controller is. Split D-pad and buttons named triangle are the main reasons. Another think I don't like is the buttons under the analog sticks. You can't push that button without moving the stick, it's almost impossible. My favourite is the Gamecube controller. Buttons are very easy to find, A being the home button, and everything else being layed out logically around it. The color coding helps a little too. Look at the controller and tell me which one is the gas, and which one is the brake. Green for go, red for stop, you got it. The only problem is the Z button, but even that isn't too hard to reach. And don't even talk to me about the XBox controller, the original design was as big as a bear, and the current one still has many problems, like buttons under the analog sticks.
Why differentiate between businesses of different size? If book store A is owned by a multinational corporation then they aren't allowed to have the store in a place with stairs and no elevator. However, if the bookstore isn't owned by a multinational corporation then they are allowed to only have access via stairs? That seems a little unfair. If it's not worth it to put in a ramp/elevator, then it's not worth it, I shouldn't matter who owns the business. If the business will only make $2000 a year profit off people who can't use the stairs, but it will cost them $3000 to install and maintain the elevator, then why should they have to install it? It shouldn't matter who owns the business, because either way they are losing money by being forced to comply with the law. And the fact that there is exceptions makes this even worse. How is a business supposed to figure out if they're required to follow the ADA before they get sued, and have to spend thousands on lawyers.
It is costs them extra money to serve Asians then that may be valid. However, it doesn't cost more to serve Asians, and there's no real reason, except that they don't like Asians. However, there's plenty of stores in China town that don't do a very good job of serving people who aren't chinese (or don't speak the language). They don't outright refuse to serve them, but some restaurants have only Chinese menus, only chopsticks (which is a problem for people who may never haver used them before), and have staff that only speak Chinese. However, it's their choice if they don't want to cater to the English speaking people. That would require extra effort for them in learning a new language, printing out menus, and buying forks. Speaking of restaurants, how many restaurants do you know of that have braille menus? Sure you could always bring a menu, and have your friend read it for you, but what if you want to go with a blind friend? Do you think the server would want to sit there and read the menu to you?
Well, they've recently found life 3 KM down in the ROCK, where no light can reach it. There's no sunlight, no thermal vents, but it is pretty warm, due to being so deep. So we don't necessarily need sunlight for life. I suggest you listen to the audio files linked to in the page above. It's pretty interesting stuff.
This is sooo true. I think most people would be much better off without a computer. My mom got a digital camera, and I told her don't even worry about the computer. Just delete picture off it, from the camera, and bring it into the store when you want to print stuff. I was probably right. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't get the picture off the camera when she plugged it into the computer. Turns out she had removed the memory card. If people don't want to learn the basic concepts of using a computer, then they should just live without one, their lives would be much easier. Give them two options. Use windows, but don't call me when it breaks, or use linux, and you won't have to worry about it breaking.
But by purchasing the music from iTunes, you are agreeing to their terms. You knew what the situation was when you bought the music, so why would you buy it? I'd much rather buy CDs, which are about the same price as iTunes, but give me much more freedom. By purchasing the music under their terms, you're telling them that there's nothing wrong with their terms. I hope we don't get to the point where they get rid of physical copies altogether, and sell everything online. If everybody starts using iTunes instead, then maybe in 20 years we might be at that point.
Because they want to buy an MP3 phone, but then realize that they can't play any of their already purchased iTunes on it. It's not the player that's the problem, it's the format they have bought their music in. That's why I said it was specific to people who buy iTunes. When they get a new portable music device, it has to be an iPod, or they can't play any of the music they bought.
I think that what most people don't realize about the retailer warranties is that they aren't straight exchange. You don't just take your broken XBox into future shop and walk out with a new one. They have to send it away, have it checked, and then either fix your unit, or send you a replacement (which is usually refurbished). Sometimes the process can take over a month. I know a guy who works at futureshop, and he says the warranties are a ripoff, because of this waiting period.
Ok, I realize that not everybody who has an iPod uses iTunes (i don't) but if people buy iTunes, they can't not be loyal. What's the alternative? Burn all your songs to CD and re-rip to MP3, which loses quality? Throw away all your music and buy it in another format? Break the DMCA in order to transfer music to your new player? It's just easier to buy a new iPod when your old one dies, or isn't good enough. iPods have only been really mainstream for a couple years, but I think people are really going to start to feel the pinch of DRM once the Zune and other MP3 phones start to become more popular.
this guy was too cheap to buy a decently priced warranty
You shouldn't have to pay extra for a real warranty. 3 months is nothing. If you buy it for your kids for Christmas, the warranty could be half gone by the time you open the box. I think that MS is being really underhanded in selling a $400 piece of electronics, which the previous model had known failures, and only giving a 90 day warranty.
This is one of the many reasons why I bought a GameCube last generation. If the manufacturer doesn't trust their product enough to warranty it for at least 1 year, then I'm not buying it. Especially with expensive electronics. However, I'm not sure if it's all MS's doing, or if retailers push them to only warranty it for 90 days, so they can make a killing off selling the extended warranty. Still MS is evil because they have the final say on the warranty terms, but I can't help but think the retailers push them a little bit.
Same thing here in Canada. Even the part about not liking the current govt. At least they're a minority. Anyway, every time paper ballots get mentioned on Slashdot, Americans complain that it doesn't scale, when it scales perfectly well. Counting is done in parallel, at each polling station, as the polls close. Then they are all added up, and results are finalized by the end of the night. It's almost the perfect parallel process. Anyway, and there's no hanging chads or anything. Paper voting means no machines, just a pen and a piece of paper. Mark an X in the box to vote. I don't know why people would want to move to electronic voting which costs more, and bring about suspicion of rigged elections (with good reason).
I can understand them not wanting you to use the DRM stuff under a VM, because then you could circumvent the DRM. However, I don't really get the bitlocker thing. Why not allow people to encrypt their files in a VM? Is there some sort of flaw or back door that they know of that they don't want people to find? There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to use bitlocker on my VM, it's my files, I should be able to know how they are being encrypted.
This is my problem, because I chose to go to a small retailer to by my last computer, I had to pay $CDN 129 for my copy of windows. None of the big resellers (Dell,HP,Lenovo,etc.) offered a computer that had what I wanted, without a ton of extra stuff I didn't. So I ended up paying extra, just because MS decided it could have a better monopoly position by offering cheaper copies of windows to big resellers.
I really don't like the whole OEM licensing thing that MS does. IF you buy the $299 dell, then you're basically paying nothing for windows, because the parts cost that much. If MS was forced to set one price for their OS, and make everyone pay that price, then I think we'd see a lot fairer prices. It's not right that someone who buys a new computer from a specific reseller gets a free OS, while those of us who choose to build our own systems, or support smaller companies, or , heaven forbid, just install a new OS in our old computer, have to pay through the nose for a product that is basically being given away to others.
I'm using it on Windows and Linux, and haven't noticed any crashes. I suspect it has to do with extensions that have been "upgraded" to work with Firefox 2, without proper testing by their developers.
I think you hit this one on the head. If MS pulls out of China they will have no choice but to either pirate windows, or switch to Linux/Mac/Solaris/BSD/Whatever. I think that MS could seriously be making a huge mistake on this one. There's a lot of people in China, even if only 5% of people in China don't pirate, then that's a larger market than Canada. And with all those people, it's a lot of mindshare.
Exactly. If all the browser does is crash every time you go to a specific website, then the user is just going to stop visiting that website. Or, they're stupid and don't understand cause and effect. I wouldn't call it a DOS attack since you can't really make the user visit your website to crash it. It's still a bug, and still needs to be fixed, but I think calling it a DOS is blowing it a little out of proportion. If it somehow broke firefox and made it unable to visit any site, until it was reinstalled, then it may be called a DOS attack.
Slashdot Mirror
But that's me protecting stuff that I want to protect. I do not want my music protected. I want to be able to play it on any device, and I don't want to have to ask Microsoft for permission to do so. It's the reason I don't buy iTunes, because the next player I buy may not be an iPod, and I don't want to repurchase all of my music, or even have to find some way to break the DRM.
Is that the same target audience that continues to use IE, even though they've gotten tons of virus from simply visiting a web site, or continue to use windows, even though they've gotten viruses from doing nothing except hooking their computer up to the internet? Sounds like a pretty large target audience to me.
Since when does Apple have a monopoly on music? There's these places called music stores. You can find them in malls. They sell music on shiny plastic discs. These discs are easily copied onto your computer, and onto any portable device. You can play them in your car, on your home stereo, and in many other places.
But the Zune is not a "plays for sure" device. Just as the iPod is not a "plays for sure" device. The Zune hasn't even been released yet, so it's not like they promised anybody that music they bought would play on the device. I think it's a little underhanded because MS makes the device, that you'd think it would support "plays for sure", however, as long as they don't advertise it as such, I don't think they have done anything wrong. I also think it will show the general public just how bad an idea DRM is. Ever have a CD stop playing because a new player came out? Not likely. I think that this, along with people buying a Zune/something else, and not being able to figure out why they can't play their iTunes, will be the events that bring DRM down.
I asked the guy at the local Walmart, and he said they were getting 7 Wiis for release day. I think that may create a little bit of a shortage. Although there's many other store in this city, I still think there will be a shortage. Assuming each store getting Wiis gets the same number, then there's about 200 Wiis for a city of 1 Million people. That's not too many to go around. Granted, I don't know how many they will be able to get after release date, but as it stands now, getting one on release date is going to be pretty hard.
Didn't Saddam get 100% of the vote last time he was elected? Was that vote hacked?
Another voice here stating how bad the PS2 controller is. Split D-pad and buttons named triangle are the main reasons. Another think I don't like is the buttons under the analog sticks. You can't push that button without moving the stick, it's almost impossible. My favourite is the Gamecube controller. Buttons are very easy to find, A being the home button, and everything else being layed out logically around it. The color coding helps a little too. Look at the controller and tell me which one is the gas, and which one is the brake. Green for go, red for stop, you got it. The only problem is the Z button, but even that isn't too hard to reach. And don't even talk to me about the XBox controller, the original design was as big as a bear, and the current one still has many problems, like buttons under the analog sticks.
Why differentiate between businesses of different size? If book store A is owned by a multinational corporation then they aren't allowed to have the store in a place with stairs and no elevator. However, if the bookstore isn't owned by a multinational corporation then they are allowed to only have access via stairs? That seems a little unfair. If it's not worth it to put in a ramp/elevator, then it's not worth it, I shouldn't matter who owns the business. If the business will only make $2000 a year profit off people who can't use the stairs, but it will cost them $3000 to install and maintain the elevator, then why should they have to install it? It shouldn't matter who owns the business, because either way they are losing money by being forced to comply with the law. And the fact that there is exceptions makes this even worse. How is a business supposed to figure out if they're required to follow the ADA before they get sued, and have to spend thousands on lawyers.
It is costs them extra money to serve Asians then that may be valid. However, it doesn't cost more to serve Asians, and there's no real reason, except that they don't like Asians. However, there's plenty of stores in China town that don't do a very good job of serving people who aren't chinese (or don't speak the language). They don't outright refuse to serve them, but some restaurants have only Chinese menus, only chopsticks (which is a problem for people who may never haver used them before), and have staff that only speak Chinese. However, it's their choice if they don't want to cater to the English speaking people. That would require extra effort for them in learning a new language, printing out menus, and buying forks. Speaking of restaurants, how many restaurants do you know of that have braille menus? Sure you could always bring a menu, and have your friend read it for you, but what if you want to go with a blind friend? Do you think the server would want to sit there and read the menu to you?
Well, they've recently found life 3 KM down in the ROCK, where no light can reach it. There's no sunlight, no thermal vents, but it is pretty warm, due to being so deep. So we don't necessarily need sunlight for life. I suggest you listen to the audio files linked to in the page above. It's pretty interesting stuff.
This is sooo true. I think most people would be much better off without a computer. My mom got a digital camera, and I told her don't even worry about the computer. Just delete picture off it, from the camera, and bring it into the store when you want to print stuff. I was probably right. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't get the picture off the camera when she plugged it into the computer. Turns out she had removed the memory card. If people don't want to learn the basic concepts of using a computer, then they should just live without one, their lives would be much easier. Give them two options. Use windows, but don't call me when it breaks, or use linux, and you won't have to worry about it breaking.
But by purchasing the music from iTunes, you are agreeing to their terms. You knew what the situation was when you bought the music, so why would you buy it? I'd much rather buy CDs, which are about the same price as iTunes, but give me much more freedom. By purchasing the music under their terms, you're telling them that there's nothing wrong with their terms. I hope we don't get to the point where they get rid of physical copies altogether, and sell everything online. If everybody starts using iTunes instead, then maybe in 20 years we might be at that point.
Because they want to buy an MP3 phone, but then realize that they can't play any of their already purchased iTunes on it. It's not the player that's the problem, it's the format they have bought their music in. That's why I said it was specific to people who buy iTunes. When they get a new portable music device, it has to be an iPod, or they can't play any of the music they bought.
I think that what most people don't realize about the retailer warranties is that they aren't straight exchange. You don't just take your broken XBox into future shop and walk out with a new one. They have to send it away, have it checked, and then either fix your unit, or send you a replacement (which is usually refurbished). Sometimes the process can take over a month. I know a guy who works at futureshop, and he says the warranties are a ripoff, because of this waiting period.
Ok, I realize that not everybody who has an iPod uses iTunes (i don't) but if people buy iTunes, they can't not be loyal. What's the alternative? Burn all your songs to CD and re-rip to MP3, which loses quality? Throw away all your music and buy it in another format? Break the DMCA in order to transfer music to your new player? It's just easier to buy a new iPod when your old one dies, or isn't good enough. iPods have only been really mainstream for a couple years, but I think people are really going to start to feel the pinch of DRM once the Zune and other MP3 phones start to become more popular.
This is one of the many reasons why I bought a GameCube last generation. If the manufacturer doesn't trust their product enough to warranty it for at least 1 year, then I'm not buying it. Especially with expensive electronics. However, I'm not sure if it's all MS's doing, or if retailers push them to only warranty it for 90 days, so they can make a killing off selling the extended warranty. Still MS is evil because they have the final say on the warranty terms, but I can't help but think the retailers push them a little bit.
Same thing here in Canada. Even the part about not liking the current govt. At least they're a minority. Anyway, every time paper ballots get mentioned on Slashdot, Americans complain that it doesn't scale, when it scales perfectly well. Counting is done in parallel, at each polling station, as the polls close. Then they are all added up, and results are finalized by the end of the night. It's almost the perfect parallel process. Anyway, and there's no hanging chads or anything. Paper voting means no machines, just a pen and a piece of paper. Mark an X in the box to vote. I don't know why people would want to move to electronic voting which costs more, and bring about suspicion of rigged elections (with good reason).
I can understand them not wanting you to use the DRM stuff under a VM, because then you could circumvent the DRM. However, I don't really get the bitlocker thing. Why not allow people to encrypt their files in a VM? Is there some sort of flaw or back door that they know of that they don't want people to find? There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to use bitlocker on my VM, it's my files, I should be able to know how they are being encrypted.
This is my problem, because I chose to go to a small retailer to by my last computer, I had to pay $CDN 129 for my copy of windows. None of the big resellers (Dell,HP,Lenovo,etc.) offered a computer that had what I wanted, without a ton of extra stuff I didn't. So I ended up paying extra, just because MS decided it could have a better monopoly position by offering cheaper copies of windows to big resellers.
I really don't like the whole OEM licensing thing that MS does. IF you buy the $299 dell, then you're basically paying nothing for windows, because the parts cost that much. If MS was forced to set one price for their OS, and make everyone pay that price, then I think we'd see a lot fairer prices. It's not right that someone who buys a new computer from a specific reseller gets a free OS, while those of us who choose to build our own systems, or support smaller companies, or , heaven forbid, just install a new OS in our old computer, have to pay through the nose for a product that is basically being given away to others.
I'm using it on Windows and Linux, and haven't noticed any crashes. I suspect it has to do with extensions that have been "upgraded" to work with Firefox 2, without proper testing by their developers.
I think you hit this one on the head. If MS pulls out of China they will have no choice but to either pirate windows, or switch to Linux/Mac/Solaris/BSD/Whatever. I think that MS could seriously be making a huge mistake on this one. There's a lot of people in China, even if only 5% of people in China don't pirate, then that's a larger market than Canada. And with all those people, it's a lot of mindshare.
Can Konquerer run on windows yet?
Slashdot is denying my service because it only took me 12 seconds to type that sentence above.
Exactly. If all the browser does is crash every time you go to a specific website, then the user is just going to stop visiting that website. Or, they're stupid and don't understand cause and effect. I wouldn't call it a DOS attack since you can't really make the user visit your website to crash it. It's still a bug, and still needs to be fixed, but I think calling it a DOS is blowing it a little out of proportion. If it somehow broke firefox and made it unable to visit any site, until it was reinstalled, then it may be called a DOS attack.