Some Microsoft guy made some comments thorugh personal channels
Not just "some Microsoft guy". He's creative director at Microsoft's video game division. If you think his opinion is irrelevant or atypical, you're delusional.
Here's a cluestick sunshine. The whole point of fee and open software isn't about everybody rolling their own. That's just a thoroughly overused ant-foss astroturfer talking point.
When the source is open, and a product is desired by enough people and products, the community will pick it up. Open Office was forked when Oracle looked like being a threat, and that's a very substantial project.
Imagine you're a guy in your mid-30s, educated in Switzerland, a smart enough guy. You're not particularly interested in politics, just want to have a good time and enjoy the luxuries you've always been accustomed to. Then all of a sudden, you're dragged from your your cosy, relatively anonymous life and told you're the leader of one of the world's remaining military dictatorships.
You don't particularly want to lead, you'd rather continue your life as a pampered playboy, but the people around you are murderous, and will brook no signs of weakness. This is a roller-coaster you're on, you have very little control and you can't get off. How do you stop it? What do you do?
If you go soft, you'll be assassinated, you know that because it almost happened. One way might be to push harder than the generals expect and try to provoke the rest of the world into stopping the ride for you.
And that Windows malware, spyware, viruses and etc. were because of the crappy Windows code and not just because of popularity?
Microsoft isn't off the hook by any means.
There are still several orders of magnitude more malware for Windows than any other platform, despite Android overtaking it in the market. Android malware is also almost exclusively socially engineered, rather than exploiting OS flaws. The same can't be said for Windows.
I'm pretty certain that stating "Buy from the US" can be viewed as a blessing on the Grey Import business.
Actually no. Adobe's Paul Robson made that clear. "If you purchase your Adobe product in the US, we’re not obligated to provide you a warranty. We want you to buy from us."
This is not new to us, it's been going on for years. The gougers have variously blamed retailers, market size, freight costs, warranty differences, rents, taxes, wages, penalty rates and importation and transport costs for their extortionate prices. None of it comes close to explaining their huge markups.
There are no valid excuses.
They're overcharging because they can. Because they're being allowed to use geo-blocking to stop Australians from buying from their websites. Because local retail channels are heavily controlled to block competition. Because their customers are no longer being given the options of competing products.
The market has clearly failed to self-regulate and as a result, deserves government intervention.
These companies have agreements with online merchants like Amazon to block sales of US-priced products to Australia. Trying will get you a "This product is not available in your region" message.
A few people sending packages to friends doesn't make a dent in the gouging.
Slashdot Mirror
yeah, tags would be nice
SVN and a good client (Rabbit VCS, Tortoise SVN etc) then?
Some Microsoft guy made some comments thorugh personal channels
Not just "some Microsoft guy". He's creative director at Microsoft's video game division. If you think his opinion is irrelevant or atypical, you're delusional.
I travel the world reasonably extensively, though not to the US recently.
The imbalance between rich and poor exists in most places, but is less brutal in countries with strong social welfare policies such as healthcare.
Were the documents Xeroxed as well?
Sigh, this ancient FUD again.
Here's a cluestick sunshine. The whole point of fee and open software isn't about everybody rolling their own. That's just a thoroughly overused ant-foss astroturfer talking point.
When the source is open, and a product is desired by enough people and products, the community will pick it up. Open Office was forked when Oracle looked like being a threat, and that's a very substantial project.
So? It's fully open source.
I haven't traveled to the USA.
The exchange rate makes it a reasonable destination, but I don't want to be treated like dirt.
Just be harty me old mate, you'll be over the wee brook in nae time.
Conan Doyle might have had a bit more influence on Holmes's creativity than the violin playing.
Imagine you're a guy in your mid-30s, educated in Switzerland, a smart enough guy. You're not particularly interested in politics, just want to have a good time and enjoy the luxuries you've always been accustomed to. Then all of a sudden, you're dragged from your your cosy, relatively anonymous life and told you're the leader of one of the world's remaining military dictatorships.
You don't particularly want to lead, you'd rather continue your life as a pampered playboy, but the people around you are murderous, and will brook no signs of weakness. This is a roller-coaster you're on, you have very little control and you can't get off. How do you stop it? What do you do?
If you go soft, you'll be assassinated, you know that because it almost happened. One way might be to push harder than the generals expect and try to provoke the rest of the world into stopping the ride for you.
Just a thought...
The troubles that are faced by Linux users (for example, the bricking of Samsung laptops)
That had nothing to do with Linux or SecureBoot. It was a Samsung bug that also affected Windows.
It was just first detected by Linux users.
And that Windows malware, spyware, viruses and etc. were because of the crappy Windows code and not just because of popularity?
Microsoft isn't off the hook by any means.
There are still several orders of magnitude more malware for Windows than any other platform, despite Android overtaking it in the market. Android malware is also almost exclusively socially engineered, rather than exploiting OS flaws. The same can't be said for Windows.
Thanks for the nostalgia and for reviving SCO in the guise of Nokia. It was nice of you to dig out Florian for a reprise too...
This is still a FUD-filled article.
If you look at the list, the 86 patents turn out to be just a few basic concepts, with each patent obtained in multiple jurisdictions.
It appears Florian Muller is preparing to resume his old SCO role as Microsoft-sponsored pundit.
Congratulations! Now you know how every single one of your customers feels on a daily basis.
Being bent over and pounded is not a service my carrier provides. I just give them AU$20 a month to make calls and use data.
If being bent over a barrel isn't a lifestyle choice for you, you should change your carrier.
There is also a special "recovery key" that can be used to get in to reset the trusted devices.
And that could never cause a problem...
Major security hole allows Apple passwords to be reset with only email address, date of birth
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/22/4136242/major-security-hole-allows-apple-id-passwords-reset-with-email-date-of-birth
When they're manipulating the market to prevent competition.
I'm pretty certain that stating "Buy from the US" can be viewed as a blessing on the Grey Import business.
Actually no. Adobe's Paul Robson made that clear. "If you purchase your Adobe product in the US, we’re not obligated to provide you a warranty. We want you to buy from us."
This is not new to us, it's been going on for years. The gougers have variously blamed retailers, market size, freight costs, warranty differences, rents, taxes, wages, penalty rates and importation and transport costs for their extortionate prices. None of it comes close to explaining their huge markups.
There are no valid excuses.
They're overcharging because they can. Because they're being allowed to use geo-blocking to stop Australians from buying from their websites. Because local retail channels are heavily controlled to block competition. Because their customers are no longer being given the options of competing products.
The market has clearly failed to self-regulate and as a result, deserves government intervention.
These companies have agreements with online merchants like Amazon to block sales of US-priced products to Australia. Trying will get you a "This product is not available in your region" message.
A few people sending packages to friends doesn't make a dent in the gouging.
This may also explain why these weird prices apply specifically to the standard physical boxed sets of Adobe products,
It doesn't.
We don't get physical copies. This is pure price-gouging, no excuses.
It's GST not VAT, and it doesn't come close to explaining the gouging these companies have been getting away with.
What Microsoft gets,
Yep, Microsoft products and their Kin will always play for sure!
It's a 55,000 brake horsepower fuel pump motor, used to drive both the kerosene fuel and the liquid oxygen pumps.
Yeah, it would allow people to view sites like Netflix and Hulu without a plugin.
Probably not.
This standard just provides a way for the browser to work with the DRM. The actual rights removal will still have to be implemented elsewhere.
There is going to be less meat on the little swallow wings.
So instead of swallows, they'll be gags?