Lol.. what's even funnier is that here in Australia, VB is a beer.. so the thought that they didn't pass the VB100 is quite amusing...
I'm kind of the opinion of "who cares" as well. Although I did notice that the publishers of this also have their own AV software, no conflict of interest there..
Nice one.. it was meant to be a general comment, not a specific example.. obviously I used a poor example, because no one is forcing anyone to use a particular format for the ipod, you don't even really have to use itunes with an ipod.
That said, if you buy an ipod, you are pretty much stuck in the ipod hardware in terms of music you have legally downloaded, as itunes sells music in their own format that locks itself to your particular ipod, so if you go and buy another brand music player, you can't easily transfer the music to it. I'm talking about the average user, not tech heads who read slashdot;)
Overall though, Apple's corporate ehtics aren't all that much better than Microsoft, HP, Dell, Intel or any other major corporation. I'm not defending Microsoft, just pointing out that a lot of other companies use similar tactics to try and lock in their customers.
I am currently working for the Queensland Department of Education, we are working on implementing a whole of government initiative to move all documents and standards to PDF. I have no news sites to quote or anything of the sort. There is a group called CorpTech that are pushing this initiative. It is a project that is due for completion this year.
While your comments are highly cynical, they are absolutely true. If not in the US, then definitely here in Australia. We had a government initiative (an oxymoron if I've ever heard one), a few years ago, to move the whole of government over to open source operating systems, including servers. In the state I live in (Queensland, not denial, as many people believe) that's over 400,000 desktops just in the education department, there the rest of the state government as well.
Microsoft had a rethink of the strategy they were using, dropped the prices for the government, threw in some more support for servers and all sorts of other things and all of a sudden, the government has a change of mind and also givs MS some tax breaks.. go figure.
I have to agree 100%, here in Australia they have just moved to using PDFs for all Government documents and are working on going to completely open documents.
As much as I like MS (well I like it because all it's problems give me a job, fixing them for various people.. I don't use it at home though.. haha), Open Documents make much more sense, rather than trying to lock users in to using 1 particular package.
Queue MS bashers here.. haha
Can I just say here (to play the devil's advocate) MS isn't the only company that uses Anti-Competitive methods or tries to lock users into their product. ipods anyone?
Things like this keep companies like MS and others on their toes. I also believe that companies have a right to profit from products they create, only if they do it ethically though.
And what if their religion says that they need to influence others into their beliefs? ie - Muslims, Christians, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses. Even football fans argue about teams and try and convince one another that their team is better than another.
You would be imposing your belief upon them by saying not to follow their own beliefs..
There is no such thing as 0 conflict, you can't have all ideas being simultaneously true. It's a nice ideal though:)
Great, there goes my night out, the only way I can dance is badly.. now someone has gone and copyrighted that..
What I want to know is, how can you issue a takedown notice for someone "incorrectly" copying your pathetic dance? I mean, I was to post up a video of me badly singing a song (I can't sing any other way), there is no way a take down notice would be put into effect. You could probably use the same law that Weird Al Yankovic used to use his parodies.. It might even be considered a new work.
I've often wondered about this and how on earth would you test for it. I tried explaining it to a friend of mine, who just looked at me as if I had lost my mind.. which is probably a very appropriate response.
My dad asked if I was on drugs when I asked him.. somethings just shouldn't be brought up with your parents.. even when you are 25 and married.. lol
thanks for the wording of the question and the perfect explaination.
Maybe get a ringtone on your phone with a subliminal message built in.. like "Adler shut up" or something equally discrete. Maybe even convince Adler to quit his job, or just stop humming.. Then again you could always find a couple of songs you like and get him to hum them by playing them on your phone.. haha
- Where do those sneezes go when they don't eventuate?? - How come only your fingers and toes get prune in the shower and nothing else does? - Why do we say "heads up" when we actually duck? - If a missing person sees their picture on a milk carton that offers a reward, would they get the money?
And the one that really boggles my mind..
Why are shorts, pants and underpants all referred to as pairs.. in fact they have no singular noun. You can have 1 Pair of shorts, 10 pairs of shorts.. but you can't have 1 short or 1 pant..
Obviously the situation must be pretty different in Australia. Well for contractors anyway. There is some great money to be made if you are happy contracting. If you go for a permanent position, you will pretty much get shafted by most companies, which further increases the incentive to move to contracting.
I recently attended an interview for a permanent position as a system admin, they were offering less money for a year than I had already earnt in just under 5 months, not much incentive to take the position. I'm happy getting a great hourly rate and a variety of positions, most contracts last a minimum of 3 months with many lasting 6, 12 and 18 months.
That's pretty much why I'm in the IT industry. I earnt more in 4 months than I would in a whole year if I followed my "passion". Basically it came down to a lifestyle choice. And funnily enough, the more I earn in IT, the more chances I get to follow my passion of photography. There are some blessed people on the planet whose passion and job are one and the same, but generally it's an exception to the rule.
As a society we need people to work in industries that they don't really want to, otherwise we'd have no services.. I mean, really, who wants to drive a garbage truck, mop floors or dig holes? No offense to anyone that does, I'm sure that there are people who enjoy it, but I doubt that it's their passion.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents on the matter. I know here in Australia we have a serious skills shortage in the IT industry, because a lot of our skilled IT workers go to where the money is, the UK or US. Which is fine by me, because the contracting rates are steadily going up here.
Funny stuff... my initials are PMP.. imagine the look on people's faces when they see my personalised number plates.. (called vanity plates in the US I think)
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
This is probably a stupid question.. but where would you get a book like that? All my books are normal paperback or hardcover books, none would allow you to change the binding though?
Ummm, I know the case here in Australia is that they will suspend your licence for not paying parking tickets. Our law is based somewhat on a combination of the UK and US.. then our own bit of weirdness thrown in for fun..
Up until recently it was illegal to create an mp3 or any electronic form of a song, even if you owned the cd. They have now changed it to reflect commonsense.
I'm not objecting to all research in this area, it just seems that this is the only type of research we ever hear about. I don't really care what you do to lab rats and mice, they are genetically identical and meaningless in the big scheme of things, which is why research labs use them.
Anyway, what was meant to be a bit of light hearted fun was instead taken up by a bunch of people who take themselves far to seriously.. yourself excluded.
Obviously comprehension isn't one of your strong points, if you had actually looked at my space for more than a micro second you would have quickly realised that I'm not american. I don't live there, never really want to go there.
I like the way you hide behind the anonymous posting, at least I've got enough conviction about my opinion, whether it be right or wrong, to put my name on it.
I also like the asumptions you've made about my background and current situation, none of which is actually true.
Slashdot Mirror
Lol.. what's even funnier is that here in Australia, VB is a beer.. so the thought that they didn't pass the VB100 is quite amusing...
I'm kind of the opinion of "who cares" as well. Although I did notice that the publishers of this also have their own AV software, no conflict of interest there..
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Nice one.. it was meant to be a general comment, not a specific example.. obviously I used a poor example, because no one is forcing anyone to use a particular format for the ipod, you don't even really have to use itunes with an ipod.
;)
That said, if you buy an ipod, you are pretty much stuck in the ipod hardware in terms of music you have legally downloaded, as itunes sells music in their own format that locks itself to your particular ipod, so if you go and buy another brand music player, you can't easily transfer the music to it. I'm talking about the average user, not tech heads who read slashdot
Overall though, Apple's corporate ehtics aren't all that much better than Microsoft, HP, Dell, Intel or any other major corporation. I'm not defending Microsoft, just pointing out that a lot of other companies use similar tactics to try and lock in their customers.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
I am currently working for the Queensland Department of Education, we are working on implementing a whole of government initiative to move all documents and standards to PDF. I have no news sites to quote or anything of the sort. There is a group called CorpTech that are pushing this initiative. It is a project that is due for completion this year.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
While your comments are highly cynical, they are absolutely true. If not in the US, then definitely here in Australia. We had a government initiative (an oxymoron if I've ever heard one), a few years ago, to move the whole of government over to open source operating systems, including servers. In the state I live in (Queensland, not denial, as many people believe) that's over 400,000 desktops just in the education department, there the rest of the state government as well.
Microsoft had a rethink of the strategy they were using, dropped the prices for the government, threw in some more support for servers and all sorts of other things and all of a sudden, the government has a change of mind and also givs MS some tax breaks.. go figure.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
I have to agree 100%, here in Australia they have just moved to using PDFs for all Government documents and are working on going to completely open documents.
:)
Oh and I love your sig by the way..
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
As much as I like MS (well I like it because all it's problems give me a job, fixing them for various people.. I don't use it at home though.. haha), Open Documents make much more sense, rather than trying to lock users in to using 1 particular package.
Queue MS bashers here.. haha
Can I just say here (to play the devil's advocate) MS isn't the only company that uses Anti-Competitive methods or tries to lock users into their product. ipods anyone?
Things like this keep companies like MS and others on their toes. I also believe that companies have a right to profit from products they create, only if they do it ethically though.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Oh.. I should probably refresh the page sometime before I post my comment, that way I don't repost what someone else has said better than I can.. lol
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
And what if their religion says that they need to influence others into their beliefs? ie - Muslims, Christians, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses. Even football fans argue about teams and try and convince one another that their team is better than another.
:)
You would be imposing your belief upon them by saying not to follow their own beliefs..
There is no such thing as 0 conflict, you can't have all ideas being simultaneously true. It's a nice ideal though
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Great, there goes my night out, the only way I can dance is badly.. now someone has gone and copyrighted that..
What I want to know is, how can you issue a takedown notice for someone "incorrectly" copying your pathetic dance? I mean, I was to post up a video of me badly singing a song (I can't sing any other way), there is no way a take down notice would be put into effect. You could probably use the same law that Weird Al Yankovic used to use his parodies.. It might even be considered a new work.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Well that may be true, but you still can't wear a solitary pant out in public(unless you are on a float in certain festivals.. haha).
:)
Thank you for the reference though
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
I've often wondered about this and how on earth would you test for it. I tried explaining it to a friend of mine, who just looked at me as if I had lost my mind.. which is probably a very appropriate response.
My dad asked if I was on drugs when I asked him.. somethings just shouldn't be brought up with your parents.. even when you are 25 and married.. lol
thanks for the wording of the question and the perfect explaination.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
You need a tank of methane to do that.. of course no smoking around bubbles.. they are very flamable.. heh
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Maybe get a ringtone on your phone with a subliminal message built in.. like "Adler shut up" or something equally discrete. Maybe even convince Adler to quit his job, or just stop humming.. Then again you could always find a couple of songs you like and get him to hum them by playing them on your phone.. haha
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Haha, I love that book.. Some very creative writing there.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Well of course you have to add a few others like:
- Where do those sneezes go when they don't eventuate??
- How come only your fingers and toes get prune in the shower and nothing else does?
- Why do we say "heads up" when we actually duck?
- If a missing person sees their picture on a milk carton that offers a reward, would they get the money?
And the one that really boggles my mind..
Why are shorts, pants and underpants all referred to as pairs.. in fact they have no singular noun. You can have 1 Pair of shorts, 10 pairs of shorts.. but you can't have 1 short or 1 pant..
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Obviously the situation must be pretty different in Australia. Well for contractors anyway. There is some great money to be made if you are happy contracting. If you go for a permanent position, you will pretty much get shafted by most companies, which further increases the incentive to move to contracting.
I recently attended an interview for a permanent position as a system admin, they were offering less money for a year than I had already earnt in just under 5 months, not much incentive to take the position. I'm happy getting a great hourly rate and a variety of positions, most contracts last a minimum of 3 months with many lasting 6, 12 and 18 months.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
That's pretty much why I'm in the IT industry. I earnt more in 4 months than I would in a whole year if I followed my "passion". Basically it came down to a lifestyle choice. And funnily enough, the more I earn in IT, the more chances I get to follow my passion of photography. There are some blessed people on the planet whose passion and job are one and the same, but generally it's an exception to the rule.
As a society we need people to work in industries that they don't really want to, otherwise we'd have no services.. I mean, really, who wants to drive a garbage truck, mop floors or dig holes? No offense to anyone that does, I'm sure that there are people who enjoy it, but I doubt that it's their passion.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents on the matter. I know here in Australia we have a serious skills shortage in the IT industry, because a lot of our skilled IT workers go to where the money is, the UK or US. Which is fine by me, because the contracting rates are steadily going up here.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Thanks for the info, it is very handy to know.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Funny stuff... my initials are PMP.. imagine the look on people's faces when they see my personalised number plates.. (called vanity plates in the US I think) - paul http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
This is probably a stupid question.. but where would you get a book like that? All my books are normal paperback or hardcover books, none would allow you to change the binding though?
thanks
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
Ummm, I know the case here in Australia is that they will suspend your licence for not paying parking tickets. Our law is based somewhat on a combination of the UK and US.. then our own bit of weirdness thrown in for fun..
Up until recently it was illegal to create an mp3 or any electronic form of a song, even if you owned the cd. They have now changed it to reflect commonsense.
- paul
http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/
As a fellow Queenslander, I'd have to say this is 100% accurate.
A friend of mine has a nice Acerage in Bridgeman Downs, we will frequently head out at night and play a bit of Toad Golf.. quite amusing..
- paul
We'll have to start off smaller than humans i think, ramp it up slowly..
Maybe we could move up to pigs first.. then a lot of other things in the universe
will fall into place, all waiting on pigs to fly.
heh.. ok. it was lame..
- paul
I'm not objecting to all research in this area, it just seems that this is the only type of research we ever hear about. I don't really care what you do to lab rats and mice, they are genetically identical and meaningless in the big scheme of things, which is why research labs use them.
Anyway, what was meant to be a bit of light hearted fun was instead taken up by a bunch of people who take themselves far to seriously.. yourself excluded.
- paul
Obviously comprehension isn't one of your strong points, if you had actually looked at my space for more than a micro second you would have quickly realised that I'm not american. I don't live there, never really want to go there.
I like the way you hide behind the anonymous posting, at least I've got enough conviction about my opinion, whether it be right or wrong, to put my name on it.
I also like the asumptions you've made about my background and current situation, none of which is actually true.
- paul