They are likely pissed because Microsoft is likely still in the "We are subsidizing this hardware to ensure a market footprint for the XBox" mode and every Kinetic sold today that isn't used to play Gears of Violence is money out of their pocket with zero 'return'.
Idea's been around for a while. The main issue is that it takes some major bucks to get a project like this off the ground so it'll likely remain among the list of intriguing ideas nobody's been able to finance like intercontinental bridges, beanstalks, arcologies, and such.
What I see is extreme compaction at the top of a 1 km funnel-shaped tower.
What does that imply about sun and heat, wind and fire?
You can only build this thing at the equator.
When I look at a map, I ask myself where does this make economic, geographical and political sense?
What does the city produce for export to pay off the enormous costs its construction? To pay for the services and supplies it cannot produce at home?
People don't care if you can get root on a phone and load your own software. They want something that fills a need and they want it to work with a minimum of hassle. This is why the Iphone is so popular.
Come to a full stop.
There is nothing more that needs to be said.
They get away with it because there are too many sheep in this country who have been bread for ignorance.
The masses are far more likely to see the geek as wolf than shepherd.
The more onerous restrictions legitimate services impose, the more people will be drawn towards services that don't impose such restrictions, like thepiratebay.
The Pirate Bay is nothing:
A few weeks ago, video delivery favorite Netflix made headlines with an amazing statistic: twenty percent of all downstream Internet traffic during peak home Internet usage hours in North America. To put that amazing figure in perspective, that's more than what YouTube, iTunes, Hulu and even Bittorrent each individually manage. Impressed? Now consider this: Netflix has managed to account for 20% of the North American internet's collective broadband without a streaming-only subscription service. Though one has just been introduced at a lower price, the 20% number was achieved without one... Now consider this: that 20% of all internet traffic? It was accomplished by a mere 2% of Netflix's subscribers.Netflix's streaming growth might be too much for the Internet to handle
Netflix has 15 million subscribers. 2% of 15 million is 300,000.
The Netflix client is in your HDTV, Blu-Ray player, video game console and set-top box.
You're also not telling the whole story: Those weren't just "some concessions" to build the networks that were tiny. AT&T's network was built out over the years with government subsidies at the national, state and local levels
I would really, really, like a citation for this.
The Bell System began building infrastructure and acquiring rights of way in the nineteenth century. Bell had continental long distance service in 1915. It was serving 30,000,000 phones by 1848.
30 months? Two and a half years? Damn, he should have just raped someone instead, he probably would have gotten less time and had a lot more fun in the process. I swear, I'm going to start voting against any politician that runs on being "tough on crime." It seems plenty tough enough as it is.
Talk of rape as fun is stereotypically male and adolescent -
and - equally sterotypically - it always seems to come as a shock to a geek when one of his own is expected to do hard time.
That said:
You do not want to be prosecuted under federal law for a violent crime - for any crime, really.
From Oct 1, 1994 to October 30, 1994 there were 91 sentences in sexual assault cases prosecuted under federal law.
The median sentence for sexual offenses of all types was eight years and for criminal sexual abuse fourteen years. You could realistically expect to do almost all of that time behind bars. Analysis Of Penalties For Federal Rape Cases
Yeah, since manslaughter doesn't get you more than two years these days. And a hit and run might not even be something a DA wants to pursue vigorously.
The charges in this case went beyond denial of service and were prosecuted under federal law.
In the American federal system, crimes of violence are almost always prosecuted under state law. If you have any complaints about sentencing, take them to your state assemblyman or senator.
The consequences for conviction on a charge of vehicular homicide vary wildly from state to state.
In Iowa, there is no probation and the mandatory sentence is twenty five years. In Tennessee the average jail time is 29 days. Vehicular Manslaughter
The point that $62,500 per song is excessively high seems to be something that everyone can agree on
Three juries were more than willing to hammer Jamie Thomas into the marble flooring. That ought to be wake up call to the geek who thinks he has the masses on his side here.
By the numbers:
A few weeks ago,video delivery favorite Netflix made headlines with an amazing statistic: twenty percent of all downstream Internet traffic during peak home Internet usage hours in North America. Impressed? Now consider this: Netflix has managed to account for 20% of the North American internet's collective broadband without a streaming-only subscription service. Though one has just been introduced at a lower price, the 20% number was achieved without one... in the coming months, it'll doubtlessly grow more, especially as cheap devices like the $99 AppleTV make Netflix streaming mainstream. Now consider this: that 20% of all internet traffic? It was accomplished by a mere 2% of Netflix's subscribers.Netflix's streaming growth might be too much for the Internet to handle
Whatever happened to people selling devices to other people, so they could use them as they see fit?
The HPC cluster that took 1,000 PS3s off retail shelves was of no benefit to Sony and a nail in the coffin for the OtherOS.
As mentioned in an earlier post, the cheapest 3D robotic imaging system with capabilities similar to Kinect lists for $3000. The $150 Kinect is sold as a video game accessory - and it needs video game sales and rentals to be profitable.
The geek who expects the mega corp to subsidize his high-tech hobbies is naive.
No profit means no product - and everyone loses.
The second problem is that on-line gaming and other services demand a level playing field.
No cheating allowed.
Show up at the ball park with a tricked-up ball or bat and you risk being banned from league play. The simplest way to avoid this kind of mischief has always been to set standards which begin with the hardware manufacturer.
Regulation ball. Regulation bat. No excuses. No exceptions.
Copyrights were never really meant to target individual citizens; copyright is a regulation on businesses, and should only be applied to businesses. The way the RIAA is suing individuals is a disgrace, and their lawyers should be reprimanded for abusing the court system
The U.S. Constitution makes no such distinction.
It grants the author of a copyrighted work exclusive control over its use and distribution.
The NET - No Electronic Theft Act - of 1997 explicitly removed the profit motive as an element of the crime of copyright infringement.
In August 2010 a Texan - known as "iced" on the warez stage - pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. He'll be sentenced next year. TEXAS MAN ADMITS INVOLVEMENT IN SOFTWARE PIRACY CONSPIRACY
The max on the felony charge is five years and $250,000 fine.
Three juries had a look at Jamie Thomas. Three juries hammered her into the marble flooring.
There are lessons in that for the geek:
1 The american juror is middle-aged, middle-class, small C-conservative.
He has a lot in common with Heinlein, who would sell you air on the moon. "There is no free lunch."
2 Jury nulllification is for the good old boys from the pine barrens. For the geek - the outsider - it is a stout branch and ten feet of hemp. You are a fool to expect it - and a greater fool to demand it.
2 The celebrity pro bono attorney will tell you what you want to hear.
Not what you need to know.
He will be long gone wnen it comes time to auction off your house.
it would seem logical that Internet Explorer users would trend lower incomes than anyone else. Anyone educated enough to even be using an alternate browser on a PC is probably educated enough to be making more money than your run-of-the-mill user. these opinions are those of a Firefox user who likely makes considerably more than the average schlub who's surfing the internet for porn between his shifts at Denney's.
While the geek surfs for porn from his cubicle at work?
It would seem more reasonable to assume that the IE user is middle class, somewhat older than others surfing the web, perhaps. More likely to be married, more likely to have kids. He - or she - has other expenses and better things to do. The latest tech, the latest gadget is no longer an obsession.
You can make a very good living serving that market, and the risks are slight.
some companies are afraid of Microsoft or have been enticed to steer away from non-Microsoft software
Walmart.com has in stock an astonishing 248 Windows laptops for the Christmas shopping season.
Something like 150 priced between $250 and $800.
98 Windows desktops, 109 Windows printers, 72 Windows webcams, about 700 flavors of the Windows mouse, keyboard and joystick, and over 1,000 Windows software packages, roughly divided between productivity apps and PC games.
Walmart is the world's largest retailer. Not easily frightened.
But notoriously efficient and ruthless in weeding out product that does not sell in numbers which matter.
_____
You will find the 10" Entourage Systems 10.1" eDGe DualBook e-book reader here - at a stiff $500. E Ink on the left page. Color LCD on the right. Android OS.
The problem here is - as it always seems to be with OEM Linux - is that the add copy assumes that you are an experienced e-book reader. That you understand the technology. That you understand the supported file formats. That you where and how to find and purchase a book.
Apple doesn't make these mistakes. Amazon doesn't make these mistakes.
If you think that self publishing artists are a threat to the industry, wait until you have everybody self replicating everything they need.
You still have the question of who owns the rights to copy the design. Not to mention who bears the legal responsibility if your replicated part fails.
I haven't had any reason to read the Times since nobody links to their articles any more. And since I have no reason to read the Times, I haven't had any reason to pay for it.
The Times remains the leading financial paper in the U.K. - as the WSJ - also News Corp - remains the leading financial paper in the U.S. You may not be reading the WSJ and Times - but some very big decisions are made by those who do.
That depends on who his readers are and where their influence will be most felt.
The WSJ is an early and successsful example of a paywall. The WSJ was merged into News Corp in 2007. The newspaper or magazine that is considered a must-read by decision makers in business and government is never safe to ignore.
The spin put on this story is strange - when you look at Net Applications itself:
Windows 7 has by far the highest share of Internet Explorer 9.0 beta users. Our browser usage numbers show that Internet Explorer 9 Beta has grown about 2.5 times from 0.61% in September to 1.46% in October on the Windows 7 platform. Worldwide, Internet Explorer 9 Beta represents 0.32% of browser usage share across all operating systems.Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9
The IE9 Beta replaces 32 and 64 bit IE 7/8.
That is something new for IE and for Windows as a mass-market OS.
In Net Applications' OS platform stats only Windows, OSX and iOS have a greater than 1% global market share. That is a very impressive performance for Apple's mobile devices - and Win 7's performance doesn't look too shabby. But, for all the attention given to mobile, it remains a very small part of a picture that doesn't seem to be changing very much. Top Operating System Share Trend
however, TV manufacturers are having a hard time convincing households that they need a second flatscreen television. Large CRTs are being moved into master bedrooms as big flatscreens take their place in living rooms, but while market penetration of HDTV is finally significant (at least in the U.S.) people aren't buying two
It may be happening more than you think:
A telephone survey conducted by the Leichtman Research Group found that nearly half of all U.S. households (46 percent) will have at least one high-definition television in the house by the end of the 2009--a figure that's roughly double the number who had HDTVs two years ago. Furthermore, approximately 38 percent of HDTV owners say they have more than one high definition television.Half of U.S. Households Embracing HDTV?
"The needs of the many [WOLVES] outweigh the needs of the few [SHEEP]." Yup, utilitarian democracy sucks if you're a sheep... or black... or an illegal alien...
In the real world, the predators are few and the prey are many.
There is safety in numbers - if not for the individual, than for the group.
If not for the parent, than for the child.
132.8 million The projected Hispanic population of the United States on July 1, 2050. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 30% of the nation's population by that date.
22.4 million The nation's Hispanic population during the 1990 Census--less than half the current total.
2nd Ranking of the size of the U.S. Hispanic population worldwide, as of 2009. Only Mexico (111 million) had a larger Hispanic population than the United States (48.4 million).
The user can be taught about this issue, news stories like these and user experiences losing apps
Stories like these have the life span of a fruit fly --- and are usually buried three or four levels deep on Google News, as a post from some obscure blog or a press release from the FSF.
They capture the geek's attention, but the masses pass them by ---
and this weekend they are all out enjoying the fall color or debating the elections while on their way to the football game or the Halloween party.
Slashdot Mirror
They won't be able to buy back used games for $5 and resell them for $40. Good riddance.
At least with the retail box, you have a used-game market.
That no longer true when back list titles go to Steam or Gog.com for sale at $5 to $15.
The sensible thing for the retailer may be to demand added value.
The boxed set on DVD or BLu-Ray that would be a ridiculously expensive and time consuming download.
The Fallout game packaged in an steel ammo box and sold as an Amazon branded limited edition collectible at $129.95.
It's also fine and dandy if you have an in-house systems engineering team who can hack anything from the kernel through the app layer.
But how much does it cost your employer to maintain that full time, full service, in-house team?
The Air Force had plans to build an HPC cluster using about 2,500 PS3s plus spares. Air Force Unhappy With Removal of Linux from PS3
That sort of thing takes a lot of product off retail shelves and it cannibalizes sales of your own HPC product.
Exit the OtherOS.
That lesson can't have been lost on Microsoft -- or anyone else in this business.
Idea's been around for a while. The main issue is that it takes some major bucks to get a project like this off the ground so it'll likely remain among the list of intriguing ideas nobody's been able to finance like intercontinental bridges, beanstalks, arcologies, and such.
What I see is extreme compaction at the top of a 1 km funnel-shaped tower.
What does that imply about sun and heat, wind and fire?
You can only build this thing at the equator.
When I look at a map, I ask myself where does this make economic, geographical and political sense?
What does the city produce for export to pay off the enormous costs its construction? To pay for the services and supplies it cannot produce at home?
People don't care if you can get root on a phone and load your own software. They want something that fills a need and they want it to work with a minimum of hassle. This is why the Iphone is so popular.
Come to a full stop.
There is nothing more that needs to be said.
They get away with it because there are too many sheep in this country who have been bread for ignorance.
The masses are far more likely to see the geek as wolf than shepherd.
The more onerous restrictions legitimate services impose, the more people will be drawn towards services that don't impose such restrictions, like thepiratebay.
The Pirate Bay is nothing:
A few weeks ago, video delivery favorite Netflix made headlines with an amazing statistic: twenty percent of all downstream Internet traffic during peak home Internet usage hours in North America.
To put that amazing figure in perspective, that's more than what YouTube, iTunes, Hulu and even Bittorrent each individually manage.
Impressed? Now consider this: Netflix has managed to account for 20% of the North American internet's collective broadband without a streaming-only subscription service. Though one has just been introduced at a lower price, the 20% number was achieved without one...
Now consider this: that 20% of all internet traffic? It was accomplished by a mere 2% of Netflix's subscribers. Netflix's streaming growth might be too much for the Internet to handle
Netflix has 15 million subscribers. 2% of 15 million is 300,000.
The Netflix client is in your HDTV, Blu-Ray player, video game console and set-top box.
The HD video stream is seconds away from launch.
You're also not telling the whole story: Those weren't just "some concessions" to build the networks that were tiny. AT&T's network was built out over the years with government subsidies at the national, state and local levels
I would really, really, like a citation for this.
The Bell System began building infrastructure and acquiring rights of way in the nineteenth century. Bell had continental long distance service in 1915. It was serving 30,000,000 phones by 1848.
30 months? Two and a half years? Damn, he should have just raped someone instead, he probably would have gotten less time and had a lot more fun in the process. I swear, I'm going to start voting against any politician that runs on being "tough on crime." It seems plenty tough enough as it is.
Talk of rape as fun is stereotypically male and adolescent -
and - equally sterotypically - it always seems to come as a shock to a geek when one of his own is expected to do hard time.
That said:
You do not want to be prosecuted under federal law for a violent crime - for any crime, really.
From Oct 1, 1994 to October 30, 1994 there were 91 sentences in sexual assault cases prosecuted under federal law.
The median sentence for sexual offenses of all types was eight years and for criminal sexual abuse fourteen years. You could realistically expect to do almost all of that time behind bars. Analysis Of Penalties For Federal Rape Cases
Yeah, since manslaughter doesn't get you more than two years these days. And a hit and run might not even be something a DA wants to pursue vigorously.
The charges in this case went beyond denial of service and were prosecuted under federal law.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern, Cybercrime Coordinator for the Cleveland U.S. Attorney's Office, following an investigation by the Akron Office of the United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the University of Akron Police Department. Former Student Gets 30 Months in Prison for DDoSing Conservative Figures and Using Botnets, 30-Month Sentence For Bot Nets Used To Obtain Information From Other Computer Systems
In the American federal system, crimes of violence are almost always prosecuted under state law. If you have any complaints about sentencing, take them to your state assemblyman or senator.
The consequences for conviction on a charge of vehicular homicide vary wildly from state to state.
In Iowa, there is no probation and the mandatory sentence is twenty five years. In Tennessee the average jail time is 29 days. Vehicular Manslaughter
Failing to pursue the felony charge can make very big headlines in unexpected places: Morgan Stanley financial adviser escapes felony charges for hit-and-run 'because it could jeopardies his job', Alleged hit-and-run driver may not face felony
The point that $62,500 per song is excessively high seems to be something that everyone can agree on
Three juries were more than willing to hammer Jamie Thomas into the marble flooring. That ought to be wake up call to the geek who thinks he has the masses on his side here.
By the numbers:
A few weeks ago,video delivery favorite Netflix made headlines with an amazing statistic: twenty percent of all downstream Internet traffic during peak home Internet usage hours in North America.
Impressed? Now consider this: Netflix has managed to account for 20% of the North American internet's collective broadband without a streaming-only subscription service. Though one has just been introduced at a lower price, the 20% number was achieved without one... in the coming months, it'll doubtlessly grow more, especially as cheap devices like the $99 AppleTV make Netflix streaming mainstream.
Now consider this: that 20% of all internet traffic? It was accomplished by a mere 2% of Netflix's subscribers. Netflix's streaming growth might be too much for the Internet to handle
Whatever happened to people selling devices to other people, so they could use them as they see fit?
The HPC cluster that took 1,000 PS3s off retail shelves was of no benefit to Sony and a nail in the coffin for the OtherOS.
As mentioned in an earlier post, the cheapest 3D robotic imaging system with capabilities similar to Kinect lists for $3000. The $150 Kinect is sold as a video game accessory - and it needs video game sales and rentals to be profitable.
The geek who expects the mega corp to subsidize his high-tech hobbies is naive.
No profit means no product - and everyone loses.
The second problem is that on-line gaming and other services demand a level playing field.
No cheating allowed.
Show up at the ball park with a tricked-up ball or bat and you risk being banned from league play. The simplest way to avoid this kind of mischief has always been to set standards which begin with the hardware manufacturer.
Regulation ball. Regulation bat. No excuses. No exceptions.
Give me a fucking break. Had there been a "Texan on board with a pistol", there would have been 4 armed terrorists on each plane
Quick Draw McGraw is buckled in. He has the window seat. In third class.
His pistol might as well be in Austin.
Copyrights were never really meant to target individual citizens; copyright is a regulation on businesses, and should only be applied to businesses. The way the RIAA is suing individuals is a disgrace, and their lawyers should be reprimanded for abusing the court system
The U.S. Constitution makes no such distinction.
It grants the author of a copyrighted work exclusive control over its use and distribution.
The NET - No Electronic Theft Act - of 1997 explicitly removed the profit motive as an element of the crime of copyright infringement.
In August 2010 a Texan - known as "iced" on the warez stage - pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. He'll be sentenced next year. TEXAS MAN ADMITS INVOLVEMENT IN SOFTWARE PIRACY CONSPIRACY
The max on the felony charge is five years and $250,000 fine.
Three juries had a look at Jamie Thomas. Three juries hammered her into the marble flooring.
There are lessons in that for the geek:
1 The american juror is middle-aged, middle-class, small C-conservative.
He has a lot in common with Heinlein, who would sell you air on the moon. "There is no free lunch."
2 Jury nulllification is for the good old boys from the pine barrens. For the geek - the outsider - it is a stout branch and ten feet of hemp. You are a fool to expect it - and a greater fool to demand it.
2 The celebrity pro bono attorney will tell you what you want to hear.
Not what you need to know.
He will be long gone wnen it comes time to auction off your house.
I would say IE is kind of like the Republican Party, it owns the upper and lower classes, but very little of the middle class.
The Republicans strength has always been in the middle class.
The Republican who cannot successfully project middle class values loses - big time. cf. Meg Whitman.
it would seem logical that Internet Explorer users would trend lower incomes than anyone else. Anyone educated enough to even be using an alternate browser on a PC is probably educated enough to be making more money than your run-of-the-mill user.
these opinions are those of a Firefox user who likely makes considerably more than the average schlub who's surfing the internet for porn between his shifts at Denney's.
While the geek surfs for porn from his cubicle at work?
It would seem more reasonable to assume that the IE user is middle class, somewhat older than others surfing the web, perhaps. More likely to be married, more likely to have kids. He - or she - has other expenses and better things to do. The latest tech, the latest gadget is no longer an obsession.
You can make a very good living serving that market, and the risks are slight.
some companies are afraid of Microsoft or have been enticed to steer away from non-Microsoft software
Walmart.com has in stock an astonishing 248 Windows laptops for the Christmas shopping season.
Something like 150 priced between $250 and $800.
98 Windows desktops, 109 Windows printers, 72 Windows webcams, about 700 flavors of the Windows mouse, keyboard and joystick, and over 1,000 Windows software packages, roughly divided between productivity apps and PC games.
Walmart is the world's largest retailer. Not easily frightened.
But notoriously efficient and ruthless in weeding out product that does not sell in numbers which matter.
_____
You will find the 10" Entourage Systems 10.1" eDGe DualBook e-book reader here - at a stiff $500. E Ink on the left page. Color LCD on the right. Android OS.
The problem here is - as it always seems to be with OEM Linux - is that the add copy assumes that you are an experienced e-book reader. That you understand the technology. That you understand the supported file formats. That you where and how to find and purchase a book.
Apple doesn't make these mistakes. Amazon doesn't make these mistakes.
If you think that self publishing artists are a threat to the industry, wait until you have everybody self replicating everything they need.
You still have the question of who owns the rights to copy the design. Not to mention who bears the legal responsibility if your replicated part fails.
Required reading: Ralph Williams' Business as Usual. During Alterations
However, my husbands / wifes property is also my property, therefore I can install whatever I want to spy on him / her
I suggest calling a lawyer. You need one. Badly.
I haven't had any reason to read the Times since nobody links to their articles any more. And since I have no reason to read the Times, I haven't had any reason to pay for it.
The Times remains the leading financial paper in the U.K. - as the WSJ - also News Corp - remains the leading financial paper in the U.S. You may not be reading the WSJ and Times - but some very big decisions are made by those who do.
...nothing of value was lost.
That depends on who his readers are and where their influence will be most felt.
The WSJ is an early and successsful example of a paywall. The WSJ was merged into News Corp in 2007. The newspaper or magazine that is considered a must-read by decision makers in business and government is never safe to ignore.
The spin put on this story is strange - when you look at Net Applications itself:
Windows 7 has by far the highest share of Internet Explorer 9.0 beta users. Our browser usage numbers show that Internet Explorer 9 Beta has grown about 2.5 times from 0.61% in September to 1.46% in October on the Windows 7 platform. Worldwide, Internet Explorer 9 Beta represents 0.32% of browser usage share across all operating systems. Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9
The IE9 Beta replaces 32 and 64 bit IE 7/8.
That is something new for IE and for Windows as a mass-market OS.
In Net Applications' OS platform stats only Windows, OSX and iOS have a greater than 1% global market share. That is a very impressive performance for Apple's mobile devices - and Win 7's performance doesn't look too shabby. But, for all the attention given to mobile, it remains a very small part of a picture that doesn't seem to be changing very much. Top Operating System Share Trend
however, TV manufacturers are having a hard time convincing households that they need a second flatscreen television. Large CRTs are being moved into master bedrooms as big flatscreens take their place in living rooms, but while market penetration of HDTV is finally significant (at least in the U.S.) people aren't buying two
It may be happening more than you think:
A telephone survey conducted by the Leichtman Research Group found that nearly half of all U.S. households (46 percent) will have at least one high-definition television in the house by the end of the 2009--a figure that's roughly double the number who had HDTVs two years ago. Furthermore, approximately 38 percent of HDTV owners say they have more than one high definition television. Half of U.S. Households Embracing HDTV?
I put "3d movies are" into the google searchbar, and it autofilled: 3d movies are bullshit
Use autofill is this way and you'll summon up a rant: "Apple is overrated. Apple is the devil. Apple is the new Microsoft."
"The needs of the many [WOLVES] outweigh the needs of the few [SHEEP]." Yup, utilitarian democracy sucks if you're a sheep... or black... or an illegal alien...
In the real world, the predators are few and the prey are many.
There is safety in numbers - if not for the individual, than for the group.
If not for the parent, than for the child.
132.8 million
The projected Hispanic population of the United States on July 1, 2050. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 30% of the nation's population by that date.
22.4 million
The nation's Hispanic population during the 1990 Census--less than half the current total.
2nd
Ranking of the size of the U.S. Hispanic population worldwide, as of 2009. Only Mexico (111 million) had a larger Hispanic population than the United States (48.4 million).
Hispanic Americans By The Numbers
The user can be taught about this issue, news stories like these and user experiences losing apps
Stories like these have the life span of a fruit fly --- and are usually buried three or four levels deep on Google News, as a post from some obscure blog or a press release from the FSF.
They capture the geek's attention, but the masses pass them by ---
and this weekend they are all out enjoying the fall color or debating the elections while on their way to the football game or the Halloween party.