My comment to Mark Shuttleworth would be that getting the basics tied down, like consistently functioning audio, are little more important than eye-candy.
This is complete and utter FUD. You (the cable company) control the street going both ways. Us (telivision consumers) need you to get access to the channels we want to watch. They (the content providers) need you to get their shows (and, thus their ads) to us. You are the ONLY ones with any leverage here.
The only numbers I could find says that in 2005 Comcast had 21.4 million basic subscribers. If we assume an average household size of 2.59 then that means that Comcast alone has about 55 and a half million potential sets of eyeballs (note that this is NOT including digital subscribers).
You can't tell me that that isn't leveragable against the content providers. You think ESPN wouldn't renegotiate if they were about to lose that many eyeballs? How about if you add in the 53.6 million that Time-Warner controls? These two companies alone control the television choices of 1/3 of the adult American population. NO content provider would negotiate away that much potential revenue. If they did then a competing channel would rise to fill the gap.
The cable companies are the ones with the power in the us/you/them equation. If they decided to use it they would have no problem implementing the system proposed by this lawsuit (and they'd probably come out ahead).
But to the networks, YOU ARE NOT THE CUSTOMER, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.
If this is true, then why are you charged for us and not paid? In your scenarion you are offering a product (us) to a consumer (the content providers) and you're the one being charged for it. If I walked in to any company offering products for sale and demanded that they pay me to take their products they'd laugh me out of the building... how is this any different?
The argument also falls apart when you consider that Comcast either owns or is majority owner in over a half-dozen channels. Why can't we a'la cart those?
We have no motivation from competitive or customer pressure to change the deal.
And THAT is why you're being sued. You are a monopoly that is not acting in the interest of the people who granted you the monopoly. This is EXACTLY the customer pressure you said you weren't feeling.
I wish someone would tell my Lighttpd and Apache servers that. They'd probably be really bummed to know that they aren't supposed to be hosting Rails apps.
All those neat tricks that makes it "productive" for the first programmer makes it difficult to understand and maintain for everyone else.
I suggest that the reason you had trouble supporting other people's code was that you didn't know the environment well enough. Rails is highly structured, so it's easy to figure it out once you know how it works.
Cricket Wireless is doing this in many areas now, and on the cheap. Unlimited everything for $50/month and no contract. Why do the "big boys" think they need to charge hundreds of dollars for similar service?
I'm sorry, but what is "CD4"? I asked Wikipedia and Google and all they had to say about it was a bunch of stuff about T-Cells and surface receptors/markers.
I have an unlocked Nokia 3360 that didn't come from them. I went to the Cingular store, got a SIM, popped it in, and it worked. Are you sure the old phone wasn't locked?
If this is really the case then why do all the phone companies that offer no-contract plans charge MORE for the service? Compare Cingular's "GoPhone Pick Your Plan" to their contract service. You buy your phone outright then pay them monthly for the service. Back when AT&T was doing the GoPhone plans they were reasonable alternatives. You couldn't get all the add-ons (like unlimited text messaging), but it was pretty close to their normal plan price. Since Cingular started running the service they've upped the prices (by about $10) and decreased the extras you actually get. If they really would prefer to do it the way you say then why am I paying more for a no-contract non-subsidized service than everyone I know is paying for their contract services?
While I don't disagree with you (we still have a ton from when I was a kid and they work great) it's still just injection molded ABS plastic. Plastics are dirt cheap and it isn't like the R&D wasn't paid off on all this stuff 40 years ago.
What I'd really like to see is some sort of open intermediate language that the "drivers" could be written in. What I imagine is you switch on your device (or plug it in if it's wired), the computer sees it and "pairs up", they do a little handshake, then the device sends it's "driver" to the computer, the computer loads it and then it magically works... no more scavaging the internet for drivers. The reason I see it as an intermediate language is so that it could work with any type of machine (PC, Mac, nix box, etc). Now, I'm not an electrical engineer (or anything related), but is there any real reason this couldn't work? Seems like it'd be a boon to manufacturers to be able to code the drivers once and have the device be compatible with virtually any platform.
Nationality can have a great deal to do with how someone views a specific subject. If you ask a member of the (US) public at large how they feel about a company trying to protect their assets (in those terms) against would be theifs, they would probably not have a major problem with that. However, if you asked them how they would feel about only being able to use music that they had legally purchased on the singlular machine that the transaction took place on (for the same price as "retail") they would probably cry wolf... however people in another part of the world might not see this as being terribly unfair. I wasn't pulling out a "foreigner" card, I was just trying to understand where he was coming from (and, as I mentioned, I don't like outsiders trying to tell me how I should do things:) ).
I, again, agree... I was just wanting to see if you were an annoyed American, or a know-it-all foreigner (I don't mean to insult, I just don't like other people telling me how my country should run).
I'm mostly in agreement with your second paragraph, but I would like to see examples for your first. I appologize for being under-informed, but my understanding (thanks high-school) was that our two prevailing parties were derivitaves of our first two parties (though they seem to have reversed roles).
If I were them I'd really like to beat my hands against my chest and cry "innocent until proven guilty, mother-fuckers", however this is civil, so they basically don't have to prove anything. We have a broken legal system.
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My comment to Mark Shuttleworth would be that getting the basics tied down, like consistently functioning audio, are little more important than eye-candy.
Of course it is... IT'S JAVA!
Just a small note. In my last phone I had Google Talk connected 24/7 and I noticed no difference in the battery life.
The only numbers I could find says that in 2005 Comcast had 21.4 million basic subscribers. If we assume an average household size of 2.59 then that means that Comcast alone has about 55 and a half million potential sets of eyeballs (note that this is NOT including digital subscribers).
You can't tell me that that isn't leveragable against the content providers. You think ESPN wouldn't renegotiate if they were about to lose that many eyeballs? How about if you add in the 53.6 million that Time-Warner controls? These two companies alone control the television choices of 1/3 of the adult American population. NO content provider would negotiate away that much potential revenue. If they did then a competing channel would rise to fill the gap.
The cable companies are the ones with the power in the us/you/them equation. If they decided to use it they would have no problem implementing the system proposed by this lawsuit (and they'd probably come out ahead).
If this is true, then why are you charged for us and not paid? In your scenarion you are offering a product (us) to a consumer (the content providers) and you're the one being charged for it. If I walked in to any company offering products for sale and demanded that they pay me to take their products they'd laugh me out of the building... how is this any different?
The argument also falls apart when you consider that Comcast either owns or is majority owner in over a half-dozen channels. Why can't we a'la cart those?
I wish someone would tell my Lighttpd and Apache servers that. They'd probably be really bummed to know that they aren't supposed to be hosting Rails apps.
I suggest that the reason you had trouble supporting other people's code was that you didn't know the environment well enough. Rails is highly structured, so it's easy to figure it out once you know how it works.
Cricket Wireless is doing this in many areas now, and on the cheap. Unlimited everything for $50/month and no contract. Why do the "big boys" think they need to charge hundreds of dollars for similar service?
I'm sorry, but what is "CD4"? I asked Wikipedia and Google and all they had to say about it was a bunch of stuff about T-Cells and surface receptors/markers.
weird... I dunno.
I have an unlocked Nokia 3360 that didn't come from them. I went to the Cingular store, got a SIM, popped it in, and it worked. Are you sure the old phone wasn't locked?
If this is really the case then why do all the phone companies that offer no-contract plans charge MORE for the service? Compare Cingular's "GoPhone Pick Your Plan" to their contract service. You buy your phone outright then pay them monthly for the service. Back when AT&T was doing the GoPhone plans they were reasonable alternatives. You couldn't get all the add-ons (like unlimited text messaging), but it was pretty close to their normal plan price. Since Cingular started running the service they've upped the prices (by about $10) and decreased the extras you actually get. If they really would prefer to do it the way you say then why am I paying more for a no-contract non-subsidized service than everyone I know is paying for their contract services?
So offer them sans activation fee if you order it from their website. I'm really not convinced that you're right here.
While I don't disagree with you (we still have a ton from when I was a kid and they work great) it's still just injection molded ABS plastic. Plastics are dirt cheap and it isn't like the R&D wasn't paid off on all this stuff 40 years ago.
Oh I agree, but am I the only one around here that thinks they're horribly overpriced?
What I'd really like to see is some sort of open intermediate language that the "drivers" could be written in. What I imagine is you switch on your device (or plug it in if it's wired), the computer sees it and "pairs up", they do a little handshake, then the device sends it's "driver" to the computer, the computer loads it and then it magically works... no more scavaging the internet for drivers. The reason I see it as an intermediate language is so that it could work with any type of machine (PC, Mac, nix box, etc). Now, I'm not an electrical engineer (or anything related), but is there any real reason this couldn't work? Seems like it'd be a boon to manufacturers to be able to code the drivers once and have the device be compatible with virtually any platform.
FYI. This is probably the first time I've smiled BROADLY on /. in a few weeks.
"don't do evil" be damned?
the way it was worded I'd have to sub-text your answer with "boolean logic be damned"
Nationality can have a great deal to do with how someone views a specific subject. If you ask a member of the (US) public at large how they feel about a company trying to protect their assets (in those terms) against would be theifs, they would probably not have a major problem with that. However, if you asked them how they would feel about only being able to use music that they had legally purchased on the singlular machine that the transaction took place on (for the same price as "retail") they would probably cry wolf... however people in another part of the world might not see this as being terribly unfair. I wasn't pulling out a "foreigner" card, I was just trying to understand where he was coming from (and, as I mentioned, I don't like outsiders trying to tell me how I should do things:) ).
I, again, agree... I was just wanting to see if you were an annoyed American, or a know-it-all foreigner (I don't mean to insult, I just don't like other people telling me how my country should run).
I'm mostly in agreement with your second paragraph, but I would like to see examples for your first. I appologize for being under-informed, but my understanding (thanks high-school) was that our two prevailing parties were derivitaves of our first two parties (though they seem to have reversed roles).
I agree with you entirely, but I have one question... what nationality are you?
I read that scene as it was a holographic representation of a spot on Earth... How else would all the constelations line up just right?
If I were them I'd really like to beat my hands against my chest and cry "innocent until proven guilty, mother-fuckers", however this is civil, so they basically don't have to prove anything. We have a broken legal system.
I agree... if someone at the checkout line asks if they can borrow your credit card for a second you'd say no, right? How is this any different?