Mainly because the Internet is pretty much infinite. This triggers the "five more minutes" syndrome for me - I want to explore a little further, or wait for one more post to respond to. On the other hand, all other activities I described are finite: Books end pretty quickly, or have chapters where I can stop reading. One a meal is ready, there's nothing more to do with it. Hiking trails always have a beginning and an end. The Internet, however, is missing an ending point, which is why i prefer to steer clear of it.
It may be strange that I'm replying to a post on Slashdot and still calling myself a "Net Evader". However, in a sense, I am. I have no Internet connection at home, nor do I want to have one. The 10-12 hours at work of Internet are enough for me.
There's a whole number of reasons why I decided to be a Net Evader, some of them mentioned in the articles:
I am very concerned about my privacy. I'm not a computer guru, and the farthest I can go is to install ZoneAlarm on my PC. With all those privacy violations taking place, I prefer to keep my PC disconnected from the Net.
I am afraid that Internet would take over my life. I am very happy with sitting at the fireplace in the evenings and reading a book. Or cooking a big lunch on Saturdays. Or hiking. Or a number of other activities. Internet is just too tempting to have around.
Take a closer look at your mail for the next few weeks. I can bet you that 95% of your mail consists of catalogs, spam and bills. The remaining 5% was addressed to someone else. Do you know how uplifting it is to receive a hand-written letter? Several pages of writing, enough to make the post stamp and trip to the post office worth it? Try it sometimes...
I'm not accessible. Having no e-mail at home and no cell phone, I can actually rest over the weekends, because people who need my help can't contact me. Actually, let me rephrase that: only people who are desperate will be able to contact me. Those who are lazy to do something will find it difficult enough to contact me to actually try a solution themselves.
You see, and here's the real reason I'll keep using Windows 98. Over the years, Microsoft has dumbed me down so much that I stopped to see any difference between an OS and the hardware;)
Yes, I'm one of those lost souls who would not switch to Linux. But quite frankly, I see absolutely no reason to upgrade to anything beyond Windows 98. At a time when people I know still use Win 3.1 and WordPerfect 5, I found that Win98se with Office 2000 and a few other applications I need for normal functioning simply have everything I need. I can't even imagine further iprovement in such applications beyond some minor interface changes. There are three consoles for games, so I don't even see a reason to upgrade my PC every two years. So why should I get excited about Palladium? Until they wire computers straight into our heads, I have everything I could wish for with my Pentium III - 750MHz. I may get a faster computer, wipe out the hard drive and install Win98 just before Palladium hits the shelves, but other than that, Microsoft hasn't given me a single good reason to upgrade.
To be honest, I know nothing about the Uniform Commercial Code. However, come here to New Jersey and try to return any kind of software that you opened and used at least once to any store. The best that can happen to you is that they would laugh at you, at worst (BestBuy example), they'll call security on you.
The only exception they do (which they also state on their return policies) is that the stores would give you the same software in return. This facilitates the mechanical damage provisions, but does not cover the lack of quality of the product, which the article talks about.
Currently, I'm helping out as a game reviewer at Netjak. However, I've been reviewing games since the late 1980s, and I have gotten my share of nasty e-mails, but very rarely have I seen a well-formed argument against my review. Most of the responses are from people who read only my review and trusted my word, without cross-checking with other reviews. While I am trying not to be influenced by the freebies I'm getting (yes, even such a small site as ours is a target of marketing campaigns, and yes, it is very hard to resist), I am the first person to admit that no single person can be objective. Thus, whenever one wants to make an informed purchase, he or she should consult various sources. Especially here, where the items cost up to $50 and most of the time cannot be returned to the store, relying on any single game reviewer is stupid and irresponsible.
I can already see the long lines for the bathroom at work. Instead of playing Dopewars on their Palms, my co-workers will now procrastinate by reading the sports news in the bathroom...
Well, not me personally. But what do you think Microsoft has been doing all the years? Considering how stable their site is (and taking into account the humongous crash when they tried to move Hotmail onto WinNT), I'm convinced that they've been running the whole MSN network on Unix-based servers, disguising them as Windows;)
Actually, that's not exclusive to the US. Where I'm originally from (Slovakia), and in most others European countries, people use a form of personal ID card that also has a unique number, which in turn is used universally.
In addition, most countries have a "birth number" - in many countries, it's in the format of YYMMDD/XXXX, where XXXX is a number assigned by the national birth registry. This number, too, is often used as a personal identification number.
Finally, I'd like to remind you that the personal ID number for computers was already here once - remember that unique ID# embeded in Pentium III chips? The one that intel later released a patch for to disable (which almost nobody did)? Well, that's still here, and people are quiet about whether the same system is used in Pentium IV or not...
...from all those players (including WinAmp) that analyze your CD and download the songlist for you? And this applies to 99% of retail CDs, not only those that are enabled by this technology.
The only current game that I can imagine there are fan files for is the Galactic Battlegrounds, an average real-time strategy. Unless LucasArts prepares to release a strong single-player roleplaying game or strategy (single- or multi-player), I see absolutely no reason for them to have a mod community. Why single player, you may ask? Because in the world of RPGs, modding can affect characters in a profound way and can be considered cheating.
It's nice that you worked for Amazon, just at the time when I, as an investment analyst in real life, criticized Amazon for allowing bad reviews for products;)
In one of the other replies, you spoke about not enoug manpower to handle all the incoming reviews. That may be true, but tell me: is it so hard to create a script that will automatically flag all low-rating reviews for personal attention while chack 4+ star reviews for profanities only and then publish them immediatelly? Otherwise, how do you explain that out of 11 products I gave a negative review as the first customer, five have never appeared on the site and the other six appeared with a 1-2 weeks delay? How do you explain that the turnaround for any positive review of mine was below 24 hours? Having written over 300 reviews so far, I have some more recent statistics to show.
Don't get me wrong: I don't blame Amazon. As I indicated at the beginning: censoring out negative reviews at Amazon is a very sound business decision, and I would be very surprised if Amazon wasn't doing it. Thus, trusting the rating at Amazon is foolish, and nobody with a genuine interest in a good purchase should be doing it.
Did you know that even when you own a paper version of a book, it is illegal to download an electronic version of the book? The current copyright applies not only to the content (as it should; especially since copyright is supposed to promote advancement in arts), but also the format (which should be protected by patents, not copyright). As a consequence, under the copyright law you have to pay twice for the same book - the paper and the electronic version.
As somebody who writes reviews for Epinions, GameRankings, Netjak and Amazon, I can confirm that Amazon does delete, or at least postpone negative reviews for new products. Basically, if you write anything with three stars or less as the first review for the product, Amazon will wait for a few five-star reviews before adding yours, which then afects the rating by maybe half a star. That's in the good case; often a valid one-star review gets deleted. The vast majority of one-star reviews that get published is so badly written that it only enforces the idea that only morons would not like the product.
As a rule of thumb, I visit third-party sites for product reviews. These sites do have links to the given products and earn a little on comissions, but in general strive to provide an objective and balanced service.
You know, it is actually scarry. You are right, we'll get another big playground for socializing. However, over time, the current ethical principles would find their way into The Sims Online, and we, the geeks, will be outcast by the rest of the Sim society again.
Considering the type of "music" I listen to, people will be treated with some good porn when I drive by. Too bad for all the traffic accidents that will follow, though...
On one side, the publishers have the right to demand that government-funded sites like that one were shut down. The publishers pay taxes just as everybody else, and it's a little weird if they have to finance free competition with their money.
On the other side, you have the ideal of scientific and technological innovation. The government is heavily involved here through copyright and patent laws.
It all boils down to what is better for the oublic good. If the courts think that offering free information will promote scientific innovation more than allowing only commercial innovation, then the publishers are right. If the courts think otherwise, I would like to see the free info on government Web sites back.
And just out of curiosity: how long till the Prima Strategy Guides sues all Web sites that provide free access to game cheats? And how long till a publisher sues me for providing free travel hiking advice?
Re:Could Philips sue for Trademark infringment?
on
BMG Stops Producing CDs
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
That was exactly my first thought, and I do believe that Phillips will sue them. They indicated it in the past.
In addition, due to the left-leaning EU policies, BMG may be pretty soon recquired to put a special label on CDs, indicating that the CD is crippled. Consumer protection is much stronger in Europe than in the US.
In fact, I would say it's in the best interest to do so; otherwise the BMG logo itself would soon serve as an indicator of a crippled CD, and they would never be able to sell normal CDs again, in the case their policy backfires and they change their mind...
I tend to whack people talking on cellphones during moview with a stick. Sitting on a plane with people all around you talking to their phones and not being able to whack them may get a little frustrating...
One patent has been filed on November 1996, the other on September 2001. As the hyperlink patent controversy showed, all you need to do is to prove that the concept that's been patented preceeds the date the patent has been filled. I became an Amazon.com customer in August 1995 - more that a year before the initial patent has been filled. As such, the patents will be overturned as soon as a single entity challenges them.
The key phrase in the article is "downloaded from the Internet". In other words, treacherous computing works only if your computer is connected to the internet. A trecherous computer needs this for two reasons: first, to let the computer controller know what's on your computer, and second, to download new rules for the proprietary software.
Here's a reason why Microsoft should not want to implement treacherous computing in the future: while North America, Western Europe and a few Asian countries are pretty well wired, the majority of computer users is not yet connected to the Internet. Those who don't have a PC yet (the enormous market potential), will always get Internet access after they get a computer, not before. Thus, if you start selling software that absolutely requires Internet to run properly, you automatically hand over a huge potential market to your competition.
On a personal note, there's a small group of people (just like me) who choose not to have Internet access at home, and could not care less what software they are using at work.
Slashdot Mirror
Mainly because the Internet is pretty much infinite. This triggers the "five more minutes" syndrome for me - I want to explore a little further, or wait for one more post to respond to. On the other hand, all other activities I described are finite: Books end pretty quickly, or have chapters where I can stop reading. One a meal is ready, there's nothing more to do with it. Hiking trails always have a beginning and an end. The Internet, however, is missing an ending point, which is why i prefer to steer clear of it.
There's a whole number of reasons why I decided to be a Net Evader, some of them mentioned in the articles:
You see, and here's the real reason I'll keep using Windows 98. Over the years, Microsoft has dumbed me down so much that I stopped to see any difference between an OS and the hardware ;)
Yes, I'm one of those lost souls who would not switch to Linux. But quite frankly, I see absolutely no reason to upgrade to anything beyond Windows 98. At a time when people I know still use Win 3.1 and WordPerfect 5, I found that Win98se with Office 2000 and a few other applications I need for normal functioning simply have everything I need. I can't even imagine further iprovement in such applications beyond some minor interface changes. There are three consoles for games, so I don't even see a reason to upgrade my PC every two years. So why should I get excited about Palladium? Until they wire computers straight into our heads, I have everything I could wish for with my Pentium III - 750MHz. I may get a faster computer, wipe out the hard drive and install Win98 just before Palladium hits the shelves, but other than that, Microsoft hasn't given me a single good reason to upgrade.
The only exception they do (which they also state on their return policies) is that the stores would give you the same software in return. This facilitates the mechanical damage provisions, but does not cover the lack of quality of the product, which the article talks about.
Currently, I'm helping out as a game reviewer at Netjak. However, I've been reviewing games since the late 1980s, and I have gotten my share of nasty e-mails, but very rarely have I seen a well-formed argument against my review. Most of the responses are from people who read only my review and trusted my word, without cross-checking with other reviews. While I am trying not to be influenced by the freebies I'm getting (yes, even such a small site as ours is a target of marketing campaigns, and yes, it is very hard to resist), I am the first person to admit that no single person can be objective. Thus, whenever one wants to make an informed purchase, he or she should consult various sources. Especially here, where the items cost up to $50 and most of the time cannot be returned to the store, relying on any single game reviewer is stupid and irresponsible.
I can already see the long lines for the bathroom at work. Instead of playing Dopewars on their Palms, my co-workers will now procrastinate by reading the sports news in the bathroom...
The last book on XML I read and understood was XML for Dummies.
Well, not me personally. But what do you think Microsoft has been doing all the years? Considering how stable their site is (and taking into account the humongous crash when they tried to move Hotmail onto WinNT), I'm convinced that they've been running the whole MSN network on Unix-based servers, disguising them as Windows ;)
In addition, most countries have a "birth number" - in many countries, it's in the format of YYMMDD/XXXX, where XXXX is a number assigned by the national birth registry. This number, too, is often used as a personal identification number.
Finally, I'd like to remind you that the personal ID number for computers was already here once - remember that unique ID# embeded in Pentium III chips? The one that intel later released a patch for to disable (which almost nobody did)? Well, that's still here, and people are quiet about whether the same system is used in Pentium IV or not...
...how long it will take till the telemarketers sue the manufacturer of the Telezapper, and claim it violates the DMCA...
Well, according to their Web site, you still have to agree to something (EULA, probably) before it istalls the tracking software...
...from all those players (including WinAmp) that analyze your CD and download the songlist for you? And this applies to 99% of retail CDs, not only those that are enabled by this technology.
The only current game that I can imagine there are fan files for is the Galactic Battlegrounds, an average real-time strategy. Unless LucasArts prepares to release a strong single-player roleplaying game or strategy (single- or multi-player), I see absolutely no reason for them to have a mod community. Why single player, you may ask? Because in the world of RPGs, modding can affect characters in a profound way and can be considered cheating.
It's nice that you worked for Amazon, just at the time when I, as an investment analyst in real life, criticized Amazon for allowing bad reviews for products ;)
In one of the other replies, you spoke about not enoug manpower to handle all the incoming reviews. That may be true, but tell me: is it so hard to create a script that will automatically flag all low-rating reviews for personal attention while chack 4+ star reviews for profanities only and then publish them immediatelly? Otherwise, how do you explain that out of 11 products I gave a negative review as the first customer, five have never appeared on the site and the other six appeared with a 1-2 weeks delay? How do you explain that the turnaround for any positive review of mine was below 24 hours? Having written over 300 reviews so far, I have some more recent statistics to show.
Don't get me wrong: I don't blame Amazon. As I indicated at the beginning: censoring out negative reviews at Amazon is a very sound business decision, and I would be very surprised if Amazon wasn't doing it. Thus, trusting the rating at Amazon is foolish, and nobody with a genuine interest in a good purchase should be doing it.
Did you know that even when you own a paper version of a book, it is illegal to download an electronic version of the book? The current copyright applies not only to the content (as it should; especially since copyright is supposed to promote advancement in arts), but also the format (which should be protected by patents, not copyright). As a consequence, under the copyright law you have to pay twice for the same book - the paper and the electronic version.
As a rule of thumb, I visit third-party sites for product reviews. These sites do have links to the given products and earn a little on comissions, but in general strive to provide an objective and balanced service.
You know, it is actually scarry. You are right, we'll get another big playground for socializing. However, over time, the current ethical principles would find their way into The Sims Online, and we, the geeks, will be outcast by the rest of the Sim society again.
Considering the type of "music" I listen to, people will be treated with some good porn when I drive by. Too bad for all the traffic accidents that will follow, though...
...chances are I was the buyer. I'm becoming like NASA: buying old hardware in order to be able to run MS-DOS 20 years from now.
On one side, the publishers have the right to demand that government-funded sites like that one were shut down. The publishers pay taxes just as everybody else, and it's a little weird if they have to finance free competition with their money.
On the other side, you have the ideal of scientific and technological innovation. The government is heavily involved here through copyright and patent laws.
It all boils down to what is better for the oublic good. If the courts think that offering free information will promote scientific innovation more than allowing only commercial innovation, then the publishers are right. If the courts think otherwise, I would like to see the free info on government Web sites back.
And just out of curiosity: how long till the Prima Strategy Guides sues all Web sites that provide free access to game cheats? And how long till a publisher sues me for providing free travel hiking advice?
That was exactly my first thought, and I do believe that Phillips will sue them. They indicated it in the past.
In addition, due to the left-leaning EU policies, BMG may be pretty soon recquired to put a special label on CDs, indicating that the CD is crippled. Consumer protection is much stronger in Europe than in the US.
In fact, I would say it's in the best interest to do so; otherwise the BMG logo itself would soon serve as an indicator of a crippled CD, and they would never be able to sell normal CDs again, in the case their policy backfires and they change their mind...
I tend to whack people talking on cellphones during moview with a stick. Sitting on a plane with people all around you talking to their phones and not being able to whack them may get a little frustrating...
One patent has been filed on November 1996, the other on September 2001. As the hyperlink patent controversy showed, all you need to do is to prove that the concept that's been patented preceeds the date the patent has been filled. I became an Amazon.com customer in August 1995 - more that a year before the initial patent has been filled. As such, the patents will be overturned as soon as a single entity challenges them.
Here's a reason why Microsoft should not want to implement treacherous computing in the future: while North America, Western Europe and a few Asian countries are pretty well wired, the majority of computer users is not yet connected to the Internet. Those who don't have a PC yet (the enormous market potential), will always get Internet access after they get a computer, not before. Thus, if you start selling software that absolutely requires Internet to run properly, you automatically hand over a huge potential market to your competition.
On a personal note, there's a small group of people (just like me) who choose not to have Internet access at home, and could not care less what software they are using at work.