OK, that's a joke, but maybe, just maybe they'll now try and improve on Apple's design, which btw should be every (commercial) designer's goal: improve on popular stuff.
Increment on existing stuff, make hard things easier and adhere to guidelines if possible. Copying is, well, easy, I guess, and useful sometimes, but what's the incentive for buying Linspire when it's only claim is "we sort of are just like everything else, only uglier and stuff sometimes break, but we're a bit cheaper".
If Linspire was free as in beer, I'd probably not mind as much, since I like the idea of empowering people without money...
Disclaimer: I don't really like software patents...
UI guidelines aren't holy. Apple breaks them all over on OS X, and with every new iteration, changes are made.
Good? Bad?
Apple before OS X was extremely easy and we'll probably never again go to such a place, but I enjoy OS X, iTunes and all iLife apps. Most changes - I feel - are for the better, and some of the things they've done are just so impressive that I don't mind the usual bad call.
And while some things in iTunes for Windows could have been done more thoughtfully, I think it's by far the easiest jukebox to use on any system, be it Windows, Apple or Linux.
Partly that must be because they aren't afraid to question UI guidelines and try to keep improving on them.
In the end, even with their constant changing of the game, I don't think anybody can better Apple on UI design, and anyway, most guidelines in use today were designed by Apple or ex-Apple employees. That should tell you something.
I really like this. Even more now that they leave the ID info intact.
This program is made to circumvent DRM, but not to pirate. As such it allows fair use as stipulated under copyright law
IANAL but I don't like this trend of locking in the user more and more. There was never any real action against people taping their LP's in the time when my back didn't hurt that much after sex.
I'm actually from the other side (involved with a label) I and don't think pirating stuff is in some weird way noble and nice, but like almost everybody on that side of the fence, I do like music - a lot more than most Britney Spear copying idiots I'm sure - and I do buy the stuff, and I can't foretell on what equipment I'll be wanting to play it on in a couple of years time. So the more options I have, the happier I am.
That doesn't mean I want Apple to support every music format possible, I like their focus on ease of use... When I was a kid I also had to find out how my cassette player and mixing desk had to be hooked up in order to copy. But nobody was actively trying to make my life difficult either.
On that: Apple needs to show it's "concerned" and needs to be seen to try and do something about this - it's a lawyer thing, else they don't uphold their part of the bargain - but really, do you think deep down they really care? There isn't a company that's more into music than Apple. They know very well what reality looks like and how consumers think.
"And the next step after that should be to send one of those Opportunity rovers to explore the surface of Sweden and see if they can find any water "
Finding water in the Vodka Belt? You must be joking! And anyway, when you find water, good luck finding a Swede who wants to drink that stuff!
Disclaimer: have several wonderful Swedish friends, and the conclusion of any get-together is "I'm not as think you drunk I am". Wonderful, how they hold their liquor.
"If you want to criticize a system, learn how the system works first."
Well, I've tried, I'm still trying. But being an artist yourself, wouldn't you say that the system is overly complicated? And that some of that complication is by design?
I understand a lot of it is very necessary, with so many people involved in creating, performing, fine-tuning, producing, publishing, marketing etc etc. There need to be some regulations, some "best practices" and some assurances in order to give everybody a fair share or pay. And in principle there's nothing wrong with having bodies that represent all those parties.
But there are a lot of structures in place just to keep things as they are, even if they're totally contra-productive. And it's extremely "top down" so that even if you find out how to avoid the ugly parts of the system, the downside is that you're then outside the system and have to do every goddamn thing yourself. There's not much of a middle way, and everything seems to involve lawyers.
It's ironic that such a creative industry is being "led" in such a conservative, uninspiring and cold manner.
I think therefore that it is quite understandable that people feel the need to criticize the system without bothering to learn all its intricacies. Not everybody wants to be a lawyer.
Actually, as part of a small label, I'm "part of the business" and don't get all of it ( IANAL:-| ) still I've got plenty of negative comments on it. A bit more subtle maybe than "labels are corrupt and unnecessary" or "copying is gooood" but still, I think the "industry" is shooting itself in the foot over and over again.
Which incidentally is really bad for composers, artists and performers, the ones that feed the industry.
"Apple, by contrast, could find that while it owned the early lead in music distribution ultimately is relegated to single digit market share once again. It is fascinating to observe that this is inherently a Steve Jobs blind spot which repeats itself over and over again. "
mmm, Jobs introduced Apple, Apple II and family, then he did a good deal with Parc and introduced the Macintosh and then he got kicked out. At that moment there was happy two-digit market share. The sad decline after that is totally not Jobs' fault.
After that, he introduced a very nice OS, which never got anywhere near two digit design, but was extremely advanced, ask anyone familiar with NeXT.
He also bought Pixar and turned it into a money making machine and creative hotspot, it might very well become the Disney of the future.
He came back to Apple as iCEO and returned it to something profitable - although he still has to stop the decline:-( Then he introduced iPod and iTunes, turning them into two-digit market players and huge profit makers.
Presuming you know all that, where do you see this "Steve Jobs blind spot"?
I'm not into hero worship, but if you'd ask me personally to point out four interesting and successful CEO's from the last twenty years, three of them would be named Steve Jobs...
Man oh man, I just got KDE on fink (under OS X), here are my impressions so far: - finkcommander is pretty good, it does just what it says it does and makes finding and installing OSS on OS X a bit less painful. - information on installation of OSS in general just sucks. Meaning, it's written for people who probably already know how to install it, and the effort would have been better spent in making a better installer, but as this is a common complaint, generally accompanied by replies like "you know nothing bonehead and I'm l33t" I won't go into that... - KDE under X11, well, it looks pretty, the startup, the first screen, but then everything freezes and I have to quit X11.
So sadly, I don't even have driver problems to report... Apart from that, I'd say this is just the kind of review this poster was complaining about... mmmmmm, coincidence?
OK, at the risk of being redundant here, I want to point out some pretty obvious things here.
- the Gimp may be free, but since it's being compared to PS so much (by users) it deserves this kind of reviews. - there are only two useful viewpoints here: either you don't care, Gimp/PS does it for you and there's no incentive to change or you do care and then there are quite a few actions worth taking. Bitching about your choice isn't constructive.
1) GUI gripes: Since theming is such fun in Linux, I don't see why FOSS programmers and some good Linux or OS X gui designers can't work together to make Gimp acceptable on various platforms and have those themes as defaults depending on the platform. A theme doesn't equal a good GUI but it goes a long way. This would charm many amateur users on various platforms, not only mac users are gui-anal, they however are very vocal;-) After all, this is hardly a new gripe. Now that there's an excellent OS X package available that installs like a charm on Panther, you'll hear more gripes than before, maybe, but still...
2) Professional gripes: IF, and that's a big if, the Gimp has professional ambitions, start working with professional designers already and find out exactly a) what results and kinds of output they desire and b) how to offer this gui-wise. Someone here remarked that indeed if the result is good enough, any gui can be learned, but it would help to make things easy from the start.
Oh well, should be glad I'm no longer a) Aunt Tilly or b) Joe Six-pack. a) is a bit too weird to get into and b) is downright insulting for the Belgian beer lover I am. I don't buy six-packs, I drink lovingly served, chilled and frothing Pater Bier in moist, beautiful glasses!;-)
There's quite a bit of information on that. If you google, you'll find maybe more accurate stuff than what I offer here below...
1) the iTMS is a massive logistic feat, that includes programming a cross-platform jukebox/burner/storefront and a sizeable staff of music-lovers 2) labels take about 60%, musicians about 12% and the rest is for Apple (btw, downhill battle has the stats on their website) 3) but last quarter, the iTMS returned a small profit, so with larger volumes it could become a money maker after all.
Allofmp3 doesn't need to have such a large staff, doesn't have its own player, and seems to need less lawyers and dealmakers. Otoh, they do automated conversion and offer bandwidth eating formats. Their website is in russian and very passable english, commendable.
So back to the thing that bothers me: with such a low price point, what do they pay musicians and labels???????
If it's nothing, then why bother buying it, just go back to kazaa... "Legal" and "Right" aren't the same things.
I really like the idea of free or extremely cheap music, but I'm not sure if I'd like the minority of really good musicians to give up on recording because it doesn't pay and only costs.
Disclaimer: I don't copy from the internet, think it's a fucked up thing to do (personally, you do whatever you think you have to do), which doesn't mean I never copied a CD from a friend.
Everything MS is easily pirated. Even today. They may be singing the "we're losing money" song with the rest of them, but that's what gives them the lead in install base. Then they come in with the stick.
This is not a moral statement or anything, just an observation from a) the last 10 years in Europe and b) the last 4 years in South America. And of course I might be wrong...
Anyway, presuming I'm right, if you want to beat MS at their game (at least concerning install base) you'd better be prepared to add a linux distro to every box of cereal;-)
Still not sure where I stand on this. On the one hand, I'm part of a label and once a musician of sorts, otoh I don't like restrictions on bought stuff and used to copy my records on tape.
But what definitely does tick me off is...
Hey you revolutionaries, where's the anti-Real hack? Where's the WMA hack?
Go for the most reasonable DRM first, right? Cool.
I agree, it brings down the barrier, but doesn't raise people's skills.
But but but...
Well, bringing down the barrier is in itself a good thing I think; and... Different tools allow for different kinds of talents to surface and to get unexpected results, also a good thing; and... There's the fun factor for those involved, not everybody needs to be a Spielberg.
The downside is of course the amount of crap - but wait... is TV today such a quality medium????
Slashdot Mirror
OK, that's a joke, but maybe, just maybe they'll now try and improve on Apple's design, which btw should be every (commercial) designer's goal: improve on popular stuff.
Increment on existing stuff, make hard things easier and adhere to guidelines if possible. Copying is, well, easy, I guess, and useful sometimes, but what's the incentive for buying Linspire when it's only claim is "we sort of are just like everything else, only uglier and stuff sometimes break, but we're a bit cheaper".
If Linspire was free as in beer, I'd probably not mind as much, since I like the idea of empowering people without money...
Disclaimer: I don't really like software patents...
UI guidelines aren't holy. Apple breaks them all over on OS X, and with every new iteration, changes are made.
Good? Bad?
Apple before OS X was extremely easy and we'll probably never again go to such a place, but I enjoy OS X, iTunes and all iLife apps. Most changes - I feel - are for the better, and some of the things they've done are just so impressive that I don't mind the usual bad call.
And while some things in iTunes for Windows could have been done more thoughtfully, I think it's by far the easiest jukebox to use on any system, be it Windows, Apple or Linux.
Partly that must be because they aren't afraid to question UI guidelines and try to keep improving on them.
In the end, even with their constant changing of the game, I don't think anybody can better Apple on UI design, and anyway, most guidelines in use today were designed by Apple or ex-Apple employees. That should tell you something.
Well, I wouldn't have put it past him to have actually said it out loud...
is that an actual quote or a case of mind reading?
cheers
I really like this. Even more now that they leave the ID info intact.
This program is made to circumvent DRM, but not to pirate. As such it allows fair use as stipulated under copyright law
IANAL but I don't like this trend of locking in the user more and more. There was never any real action against people taping their LP's in the time when my back didn't hurt that much after sex.
I'm actually from the other side (involved with a label) I and don't think pirating stuff is in some weird way noble and nice, but like almost everybody on that side of the fence, I do like music - a lot more than most Britney Spear copying idiots I'm sure - and I do buy the stuff, and I can't foretell on what equipment I'll be wanting to play it on in a couple of years time. So the more options I have, the happier I am.
That doesn't mean I want Apple to support every music format possible, I like their focus on ease of use... When I was a kid I also had to find out how my cassette player and mixing desk had to be hooked up in order to copy. But nobody was actively trying to make my life difficult either.
On that: Apple needs to show it's "concerned" and needs to be seen to try and do something about this - it's a lawyer thing, else they don't uphold their part of the bargain - but really, do you think deep down they really care? There isn't a company that's more into music than Apple. They know very well what reality looks like and how consumers think.
"The earlier comment about adding a mic to record the sounds on mars may seem trivial, but I say it'd be a great idea and inspire wonder"
...
- Keep that noise down will you?
- Not me! Another one of them bloody Rovers!
Intergalactic war, why, you ask?
"And the next step after that should be to send one of those Opportunity rovers to explore the surface of Sweden and see if they can find any water "
Finding water in the Vodka Belt? You must be joking!
And anyway, when you find water, good luck finding a Swede who wants to drink that stuff!
Disclaimer: have several wonderful Swedish friends, and the conclusion of any get-together is "I'm not as think you drunk I am". Wonderful, how they hold their liquor.
A really really good source for /. headlines, yeah!
"If you want to criticize a system, learn how the system works first."
:-| ) still I've got plenty of negative comments on it. A bit more subtle maybe than "labels are corrupt and unnecessary" or "copying is gooood" but still, I think the "industry" is shooting itself in the foot over and over again.
Well, I've tried, I'm still trying. But being an artist yourself, wouldn't you say that the system is overly complicated? And that some of that complication is by design?
I understand a lot of it is very necessary, with so many people involved in creating, performing, fine-tuning, producing, publishing, marketing etc etc. There need to be some regulations, some "best practices" and some assurances in order to give everybody a fair share or pay. And in principle there's nothing wrong with having bodies that represent all those parties.
But there are a lot of structures in place just to keep things as they are, even if they're totally contra-productive. And it's extremely "top down" so that even if you find out how to avoid the ugly parts of the system, the downside is that you're then outside the system and have to do every goddamn thing yourself. There's not much of a middle way, and everything seems to involve lawyers.
It's ironic that such a creative industry is being "led" in such a conservative, uninspiring and cold manner.
I think therefore that it is quite understandable that people feel the need to criticize the system without bothering to learn all its intricacies. Not everybody wants to be a lawyer.
Actually, as part of a small label, I'm "part of the business" and don't get all of it ( IANAL
Which incidentally is really bad for composers, artists and performers, the ones that feed the industry.
You're full of it.
;-)
I can understand you don't like a tax on blank media, but at least get your facts straight.
As for me, I wish I lived in a country with so much consideration for the arts.
Incredible that Canada still was able to produce horrors like Brian Adams
"Not running Windows - Priceless"
Well, actually you do have a point there...
"Apple, by contrast, could find that while it owned the early lead in music distribution ultimately is relegated to single digit market share once again. It is fascinating to observe that this is inherently a Steve Jobs blind spot which repeats itself over and over again.
:-(
"
mmm, Jobs introduced Apple, Apple II and family, then he did a good deal with Parc and introduced the Macintosh and then he got kicked out. At that moment there was happy two-digit market share. The sad decline after that is totally not Jobs' fault.
After that, he introduced a very nice OS, which never got anywhere near two digit design, but was extremely advanced, ask anyone familiar with NeXT.
He also bought Pixar and turned it into a money making machine and creative hotspot, it might very well become the Disney of the future.
He came back to Apple as iCEO and returned it to something profitable - although he still has to stop the decline
Then he introduced iPod and iTunes, turning them into two-digit market players and huge profit makers.
Presuming you know all that, where do you see this "Steve Jobs blind spot"?
I'm not into hero worship, but if you'd ask me personally to point out four interesting and successful CEO's from the last twenty years, three of them would be named Steve Jobs...
Man oh man, I just got KDE on fink (under OS X), here are my impressions so far:
- finkcommander is pretty good, it does just what it says it does and makes finding and installing OSS on OS X a bit less painful.
- information on installation of OSS in general just sucks. Meaning, it's written for people who probably already know how to install it, and the effort would have been better spent in making a better installer, but as this is a common complaint, generally accompanied by replies like "you know nothing bonehead and I'm l33t" I won't go into that...
- KDE under X11, well, it looks pretty, the startup, the first screen, but then everything freezes and I have to quit X11.
So sadly, I don't even have driver problems to report...
Apart from that, I'd say this is just the kind of review this poster was complaining about... mmmmmm, coincidence?
(hey, I warned you it was off topic)
OK, at the risk of being redundant here, I want to point out some pretty obvious things here.
;-)
/. fun...
- the Gimp may be free, but since it's being compared to PS so much (by users) it deserves this kind of reviews.
- there are only two useful viewpoints here: either you don't care, Gimp/PS does it for you and there's no incentive to change or you do care and then there are quite a few actions worth taking. Bitching about your choice isn't constructive.
1) GUI gripes: Since theming is such fun in Linux, I don't see why FOSS programmers and some good Linux or OS X gui designers can't work together to make Gimp acceptable on various platforms and have those themes as defaults depending on the platform.
A theme doesn't equal a good GUI but it goes a long way. This would charm many amateur users on various platforms, not only mac users are gui-anal, they however are very vocal
After all, this is hardly a new gripe. Now that there's an excellent OS X package available that installs like a charm on Panther, you'll hear more gripes than before, maybe, but still...
2) Professional gripes: IF, and that's a big if, the Gimp has professional ambitions, start working with professional designers already and find out exactly a) what results and kinds of output they desire and b) how to offer this gui-wise. Someone here remarked that indeed if the result is good enough, any gui can be learned, but it would help to make things easy from the start.
All the rest is just typical
Well, the most obvious question, since you already stated it will run on Linux...
Will it run on OS X?
Each to his/her own...
Joe Idiot.
;-)
Will have to remember this one.
Oh well, should be glad I'm no longer a) Aunt Tilly or b) Joe Six-pack.
a) is a bit too weird to get into and b) is downright insulting for the Belgian beer lover I am. I don't buy six-packs, I drink lovingly served, chilled and frothing Pater Bier in moist, beautiful glasses!
There's quite a bit of information on that. If you google, you'll find maybe more accurate stuff than what I offer here below...
1) the iTMS is a massive logistic feat, that includes programming a cross-platform jukebox/burner/storefront and a sizeable staff of music-lovers
2) labels take about 60%, musicians about 12% and the rest is for Apple (btw, downhill battle has the stats on their website)
3) but last quarter, the iTMS returned a small profit, so with larger volumes it could become a money maker after all.
Allofmp3 doesn't need to have such a large staff, doesn't have its own player, and seems to need less lawyers and dealmakers.
Otoh, they do automated conversion and offer bandwidth eating formats. Their website is in russian and very passable english, commendable.
So back to the thing that bothers me: with such a low price point, what do they pay musicians and labels???????
what's the musician's cut?
If it's nothing, then why bother buying it, just go back to kazaa...
"Legal" and "Right" aren't the same things.
I really like the idea of free or extremely cheap music, but I'm not sure if I'd like the minority of really good musicians to give up on recording because it doesn't pay and only costs.
Disclaimer: I don't copy from the internet, think it's a fucked up thing to do (personally, you do whatever you think you have to do), which doesn't mean I never copied a CD from a friend.
Everything MS is easily pirated. Even today. They may be singing the "we're losing money" song with the rest of them, but that's what gives them the lead in install base. Then they come in with the stick.
;-)
This is not a moral statement or anything, just an observation from a) the last 10 years in Europe and b) the last 4 years in South America. And of course I might be wrong...
Anyway, presuming I'm right, if you want to beat MS at their game (at least concerning install base) you'd better be prepared to add a linux distro to every box of cereal
What does that do? I remember other stuff in combination with shift, but not with WMP.
Still not sure where I stand on this. On the one hand, I'm part of a label and once a musician of sorts, otoh I don't like restrictions on bought stuff and used to copy my records on tape.
But what definitely does tick me off is...
Hey you revolutionaries, where's the anti-Real hack? Where's the WMA hack?
Go for the most reasonable DRM first, right? Cool.
Everything that helps porting all that wealth over to OS X is welcome! :-)
Yes, an important distinction.
I agree, it brings down the barrier, but doesn't raise people's skills.
But but but...
Well, bringing down the barrier is in itself a good thing I think; and...
Different tools allow for different kinds of talents to surface and to get unexpected results, also a good thing; and...
There's the fun factor for those involved, not everybody needs to be a Spielberg.
The downside is of course the amount of crap - but wait... is TV today such a quality medium????