Suppose I pay for cable and get every channel that has a show that I download with bittorrent. If I keep the show until I watch it, then delete it, I haven't done anything except time-shift the show, correct? And since time-shifting is legal, I think it would be fair to say that I am more or less playing by the rules.
Granted, most people probably archive their shows, which would certainly violate laws. Still, for the very few of us that actually care about not breaking the law, this seems like an adequate solution.
But Ferrari would. You didn't pay the engineers to design the car and the machines to manufacture it, or the marketers to sell it. You paid for a piece of the total cost, yes, but not so much that it gives you the right to freely clone it and give it away. If they can't live on it, then they'll have to stop doing it and the world will be without Ferrari cars. Either that, or someone with some spare time will attempt to make some facsimile, but it won't be as good, and it will take far longer to be made available.
Yes, yes, we all understand how you don't like the system. But eventually, somebody has to make some money by selling something so that employees can be paid, so that they in turn can buy products. This is basic economics. If you believe everything should be freely available, then you should realize that you'll need to put in your 40 hours a week for nothing. Even if you hope that only electronic information or intellectual property should be freely available, realize that, without money as an incentive, you will have trouble get people to program, design, act, draw, build, write, and in general, create your beloved movies, television shows, music, applications, and images. Again, at best, you can only hope for inferior works that take much longer to complete than those driven by money.
A day later, I'm guessing no one will see my post, but I didn't get to see the screenshots until today. I'm a little surprised that no one else is suspicious about these. No one has verified the source. The images look like a themed-up Windows XP. In fact, the browser looks very much like Firefox with a theme - people have noted that the buttons are eerily similar to the Crystal theme. Any text like in the System dialog window could be easily modified with Photoshop.
For what it's worth, I have serious doubts that this is actually Longhorn.
The trouble boils down to your perspective of the human race. Most lefts believe that humanity is great and getting better. There are those of us who see the world as it is though: depraved and getting worse everyday. You can argue with me if you want, but you'll have to ignore the constantly rising murders, rapes, and other violent crimes, as well as the consequences of immoral acts such as the proliferation of STDs and teen pregnancy.
It is because of this view that we understand that you will never eliminate war; it is the "necessary evil" that must exist in our world. War temporarily stops injustices like the Holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia. I say temperarily because these horrible acts will never disappear for good.
However, Cyno, there is a bigger picture than America and your wallet. You are concerned about how YOU feel today, but have you considered the feelings of those who have been under Saddam for the last 20 years? Diplomancy doesn't work with men like Saddam. The UN tried and tried, and he did not change. Bush did what he had to: he told the UN to stick it and took the initiative to free Iraq. The greatest leaders in history didn't sit on the fence, pleasing the masses; they did what needed to be done, most of the time under great criticism. (So, in that light, thank you for providing that criticism.)
Cyno, what gives you away as a blind hater is your constant insistance that you were lied to. The American public was not lied to. The world's leaders all agreed that Saddam was a great threat; they just disagreed on how to handle him. Ignoring Saddam would have been very foolish, and had Bush done so, the lefts would now be complaining about how he didn't take any action against Saddam.
The fact is, the lefts hate Bush and will find every conceivable (and some not) reason to hate him. This is blind hatred, and it is dangerous.
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One situation that comes to my mind is this:
Suppose I pay for cable and get every channel that has a show that I download with bittorrent. If I keep the show until I watch it, then delete it, I haven't done anything except time-shift the show, correct? And since time-shifting is legal, I think it would be fair to say that I am more or less playing by the rules.
Granted, most people probably archive their shows, which would certainly violate laws. Still, for the very few of us that actually care about not breaking the law, this seems like an adequate solution.
But Ferrari would. You didn't pay the engineers to design the car and the machines to manufacture it, or the marketers to sell it. You paid for a piece of the total cost, yes, but not so much that it gives you the right to freely clone it and give it away. If they can't live on it, then they'll have to stop doing it and the world will be without Ferrari cars. Either that, or someone with some spare time will attempt to make some facsimile, but it won't be as good, and it will take far longer to be made available.
Yes, yes, we all understand how you don't like the system. But eventually, somebody has to make some money by selling something so that employees can be paid, so that they in turn can buy products. This is basic economics. If you believe everything should be freely available, then you should realize that you'll need to put in your 40 hours a week for nothing. Even if you hope that only electronic information or intellectual property should be freely available, realize that, without money as an incentive, you will have trouble get people to program, design, act, draw, build, write, and in general, create your beloved movies, television shows, music, applications, and images. Again, at best, you can only hope for inferior works that take much longer to complete than those driven by money.
A day later, I'm guessing no one will see my post, but I didn't get to see the screenshots until today. I'm a little surprised that no one else is suspicious about these. No one has verified the source. The images look like a themed-up Windows XP. In fact, the browser looks very much like Firefox with a theme - people have noted that the buttons are eerily similar to the Crystal theme. Any text like in the System dialog window could be easily modified with Photoshop. For what it's worth, I have serious doubts that this is actually Longhorn.
Oh dear.
The trouble boils down to your perspective of the human race. Most lefts believe that humanity is great and getting better. There are those of us who see the world as it is though: depraved and getting worse everyday. You can argue with me if you want, but you'll have to ignore the constantly rising murders, rapes, and other violent crimes, as well as the consequences of immoral acts such as the proliferation of STDs and teen pregnancy.
It is because of this view that we understand that you will never eliminate war; it is the "necessary evil" that must exist in our world. War temporarily stops injustices like the Holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia. I say temperarily because these horrible acts will never disappear for good.
However, Cyno, there is a bigger picture than America and your wallet. You are concerned about how YOU feel today, but have you considered the feelings of those who have been under Saddam for the last 20 years? Diplomancy doesn't work with men like Saddam. The UN tried and tried, and he did not change. Bush did what he had to: he told the UN to stick it and took the initiative to free Iraq. The greatest leaders in history didn't sit on the fence, pleasing the masses; they did what needed to be done, most of the time under great criticism. (So, in that light, thank you for providing that criticism.)
Cyno, what gives you away as a blind hater is your constant insistance that you were lied to. The American public was not lied to. The world's leaders all agreed that Saddam was a great threat; they just disagreed on how to handle him. Ignoring Saddam would have been very foolish, and had Bush done so, the lefts would now be complaining about how he didn't take any action against Saddam.
The fact is, the lefts hate Bush and will find every conceivable (and some not) reason to hate him. This is blind hatred, and it is dangerous.