If you view a bunch of movies one month, they slow you down the next by limiting the availability on the movies in your queue.
That's not how Netflix works. As long as you have 1 movie in your queue with an availability of Now, they will send it. The article talks about specific movies being unavailable, not movies in general. You'll still get a movie, just not the one on the top of your list.
In other words, as long as your account is 5 or less and you are profitable for them, you will get movies quickly. If you are renting more than 5, it seems they slow you down in an effort to limit you to the 5 through delay tactics.. rather than just saying "up to 5"
They don't really "slow you down," as you are still able to rent other movies. It's just that some movies become less available than others.
You make it seem like, if it says a movie is a Very Long Wait, you won't get any movie. But, if you keep your rental queue filled (mine has 33 movies; I have been as high as 70. Only 3 are unavailable now), you will always get a movie in your queue, perhaps just not the exact one you wanted.
To me, it's not that big a deal, because Netflix's biggest advantage over local video stores is selection. If they don't have one particular movie, pick another one.
The post office has lost (or stolen) a number of movies I've sent back anyway.
What does Netflix do when the USPS loses a DVD? I know that they lost one of mine and I used the Netflix page to mark it as missing, with no effect on my account. But it also says that if you have an abnormal amount of lost DVDs, they will notice. Did they do anything to you?
Librarys are great. If you live in a reasonably sized city, they probably have hundreds, if not thousands of CDs and DVDs. And, to attract younger people, the libraries where I live have very recent releases and things that are supposed to appeal to "teens."
However, your quote, "the bulk of what you get on Netflix and on most of the cable channels anyway." is a little off. The reason I picked Netflix is because they have an absolutely humongous selection of DVDs. Much larger than any video store. Certainly more than cable.
It's ironic that the company that created such a perfect game (and later created and financed so many great free updates and mods) was founded by ex-Microsoft employees...
It wouldn't be Slashdot without the obligatory MS bashing.
But it's only illegal tying if you're tying the purchase of an unwanted product to the purchase of a wanted product. In this case, it would be tying if, when you bought Windows, the dominant OS, you were forced to buy the database software. This is different. There are plenty of database products out there and FoxPro isn't even a big player in the database arena. Most software is specific to one platform.
Besides, if you were so anti-MS that you use Linux, why the hell would you buy FoxPro?
That's called swearing back of a reference, formally known as a Rule 131 affidavit, where the inventor makes a statement that "include facts showing a completion of the invention in this country or in a NAFTA or WTO member country before the filing date of the application on which the U.S. patent issued, or before the date of the foreign patent, or before the date of the printed publication." The particular reference can not then be used as a bar against the invention. However, the filing date (which determines the expiration date of the patent) is not changed, merely the date of invention.
Some/.ers do mean that no patent transfer means absolutely no transfers at all. Someone on this thread says no corporate ownership at all. That is what I meant. If you allow licensing, obviously everything changes.
He didn't really wait nine years. He filed a patent in December 1994. The patent was issued in December 1998, meaning that's how long the patent office spent examining the application. Just before the patent issued, he filed what is known as a contunuation patent application. Basically, he covered one aspect of the invention in the first patent, and another aspect in this patent.
It depends on the techonology. 20 years is an eternity in the software industry or the electronics industry. But pharmaceuticals have a much longer shelf lifes, as do detergents, and tire compounds, just to name a few.
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless -
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed
publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on
sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the
application for patent in the United States,
That would be about the worst thing that could happen because individual inventors (except thouse who were rich) would have no power.
Imagine the following situation. You invent a chemical compound in your garage. Let's say its a new form of rubber that never wears out. Great! Now you can start making tires. Except you can't. Unless you have millions of dollars to build a tire factory. Fine. Sell the patent to Goodyear. Can't. It's been outlawed. Well, at least you can prevent Goodyear from using the rubber, right? No. Goodyear takes your formula, you try to sue, but you can't afford to pay the lawyers, so the lawsuit ends before it begins.
You are unable to use VFP without another MS product (the OS). This is what bundling is. It's the tying of one product to another. Making one product only available with the purchase of another.
So what you're saying is that
Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City is tied to the Playstation 2 because it you can't run it on the GameCube. Final Cut Pro is tied to the Mac because it is not available for Windows. In fact, what you're saying is that EVERY MS product (from Flight Simulator to Age of Mythology) is tied to Windows because most are Windows exclusive. That is not what the courts had in mind.
IE was tied because it was using a monopoly in OS to "force" people to use a browser. MS doesn't have a monopoly on database systems.
Good thing MS was convicted of anti-trust violations. Now they can't tie thier software to the Windows OS...
There is a huge difference between this situation and the bundling situation. In one word: bundling. Bundling is what MS did to IE, including a browser with the OS to discourage people from buying Netscape. This is the opposite situation, a standalone product is strictly Windows only.
Put all the naysaying aside: an IT corporation in charge of one the largest record group? In eight days time, our view of the RIAA and its view of the DMCA could be 180 degrees different than it is right now.
That deserves a Slashdot story.
And it has already had twoSlashdot stories. Why do we need a third one that basically says, "we'll find out if the other stories are true in a week."? Are we going to get stories every day counting down until the 28th?
Not really a string quartet. Well there are 4 string players, so they are a string quartet in that sense. But they are actually 4 cellists. A "traditional" string quartet has 2 violins, a viola, and a cello. I think it would have worked better as a string quartet, as I think imitiating the vocal line in the high register of the cello didn't work as well as using a viola or violin would.
But the only way people are tracked right now is the Nielsen system. If you aren't a Nielsen family, it really doesn't matter if you Tivo a show or watch a traded Tivo show, because they can't track you anyway.
"All parties and all members of the Court assumed, at least for the sake of argument, that librarying is not a fair use and that therefore a substantial number of VCR owners often violate the copyright law.")
It's been a while since I looked at that case, but, IIRC, the Court didn't really assume that librarying isn't fair use, the case just didn't decide that issue. IIRC, they assumed that no one would use it for librarying purposes. Not that it wasn't fair use.
As for sharing Tivo'd shows with friends, I have no idea why the copyright owners would care. Right now, thousands of TV shows are being taped and shared among friends. Why would they care if a niche product like Tivo were used for the same purpose? And isn't the whole purpose of TV to get as many people as possible to watch your program? Why would they want to prevent you from trading episodes with others? (Except for Nielsen households, of course).
This way, unprofitable patents would fall into the public domain faster (so they won't prevent innovation that builds on top of them), and there will be a disincentive to hold on to a portfolio of a bazillion patents for the purpose of lawsuit ammunition.
There already is a disincentive to keep unprofitable patents. Maintenance fees are charged to all patents and have to be paid to keep the patent in force. If a patent is unprofitable, the patent hodler will allow the patent to expire.
only USPTO workers educated in that field(computer science, for example) would be able to accept patents
Patents are already grouped into different technology centers. See this page for a broad overview of the different technology centers. After an application is filed, it is categorized (see here for the different categories) and an examiner in the appropriate technology center is assigned to the application.
Slashdot Mirror
Can't you just rip the CD you just burned? It would then be in .WAV, .MP3, or OGG format and you can do whatever you want with it.
That's not how Netflix works. As long as you have 1 movie in your queue with an availability of Now, they will send it. The article talks about specific movies being unavailable, not movies in general. You'll still get a movie, just not the one on the top of your list.
Not only that but Blockbuster sometimes doesn't carry the widescreen versions of movies. See this.
They don't really "slow you down," as you are still able to rent other movies. It's just that some movies become less available than others.
You make it seem like, if it says a movie is a Very Long Wait, you won't get any movie. But, if you keep your rental queue filled (mine has 33 movies; I have been as high as 70. Only 3 are unavailable now), you will always get a movie in your queue, perhaps just not the exact one you wanted.
To me, it's not that big a deal, because Netflix's biggest advantage over local video stores is selection. If they don't have one particular movie, pick another one.
What does Netflix do when the USPS loses a DVD? I know that they lost one of mine and I used the Netflix page to mark it as missing, with no effect on my account. But it also says that if you have an abnormal amount of lost DVDs, they will notice. Did they do anything to you?
However, your quote, "the bulk of what you get on Netflix and on most of the cable channels anyway." is a little off. The reason I picked Netflix is because they have an absolutely humongous selection of DVDs. Much larger than any video store. Certainly more than cable.
It wouldn't be Slashdot without the obligatory MS bashing.
Besides, if you were so anti-MS that you use Linux, why the hell would you buy FoxPro?
That's called swearing back of a reference, formally known as a Rule 131 affidavit, where the inventor makes a statement that "include facts showing a completion of the invention in this country or in a NAFTA or WTO member country before the filing date of the application on which the U.S. patent issued, or before the date of the foreign patent, or before the date of the printed publication." The particular reference can not then be used as a bar against the invention. However, the filing date (which determines the expiration date of the patent) is not changed, merely the date of invention.
Some /.ers do mean that no patent transfer means absolutely no transfers at all. Someone on this thread says no corporate ownership at all. That is what I meant. If you allow licensing, obviously everything changes.
Hey, they only have $5.6 B in cash. The other $37.9 B is in "short term investments," according to Yahoo. :-)
He didn't really wait nine years. He filed a patent in December 1994. The patent was issued in December 1998, meaning that's how long the patent office spent examining the application. Just before the patent issued, he filed what is known as a contunuation patent application. Basically, he covered one aspect of the invention in the first patent, and another aspect in this patent.
It depends on the techonology. 20 years is an eternity in the software industry or the electronics industry. But pharmaceuticals have a much longer shelf lifes, as do detergents, and tire compounds, just to name a few.
There is. 35 U.S.C. 102(b):
That would be about the worst thing that could happen because individual inventors (except thouse who were rich) would have no power.
Imagine the following situation. You invent a chemical compound in your garage. Let's say its a new form of rubber that never wears out. Great! Now you can start making tires. Except you can't. Unless you have millions of dollars to build a tire factory. Fine. Sell the patent to Goodyear. Can't. It's been outlawed. Well, at least you can prevent Goodyear from using the rubber, right? No. Goodyear takes your formula, you try to sue, but you can't afford to pay the lawyers, so the lawsuit ends before it begins.
So what you're saying is that Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City is tied to the Playstation 2 because it you can't run it on the GameCube. Final Cut Pro is tied to the Mac because it is not available for Windows. In fact, what you're saying is that EVERY MS product (from Flight Simulator to Age of Mythology) is tied to Windows because most are Windows exclusive. That is not what the courts had in mind.
IE was tied because it was using a monopoly in OS to "force" people to use a browser. MS doesn't have a monopoly on database systems.
This isn't tying. Tying would be including FoxPro with Windows. This is restricting FoxPro to Windows. Huge difference.
There is a huge difference between this situation and the bundling situation. In one word: bundling. Bundling is what MS did to IE, including a browser with the OS to discourage people from buying Netscape. This is the opposite situation, a standalone product is strictly Windows only.
And it has already had two Slashdot stories. Why do we need a third one that basically says, "we'll find out if the other stories are true in a week."? Are we going to get stories every day counting down until the 28th?
Yeah, that deserves a Slashdot article.
Not really a string quartet. Well there are 4 string players, so they are a string quartet in that sense. But they are actually 4 cellists. A "traditional" string quartet has 2 violins, a viola, and a cello. I think it would have worked better as a string quartet, as I think imitiating the vocal line in the high register of the cello didn't work as well as using a viola or violin would.
But the only way people are tracked right now is the Nielsen system. If you aren't a Nielsen family, it really doesn't matter if you Tivo a show or watch a traded Tivo show, because they can't track you anyway.
It's been a while since I looked at that case, but, IIRC, the Court didn't really assume that librarying isn't fair use, the case just didn't decide that issue. IIRC, they assumed that no one would use it for librarying purposes. Not that it wasn't fair use.
As for sharing Tivo'd shows with friends, I have no idea why the copyright owners would care. Right now, thousands of TV shows are being taped and shared among friends. Why would they care if a niche product like Tivo were used for the same purpose? And isn't the whole purpose of TV to get as many people as possible to watch your program? Why would they want to prevent you from trading episodes with others? (Except for Nielsen households, of course).
There already is a disincentive to keep unprofitable patents. Maintenance fees are charged to all patents and have to be paid to keep the patent in force. If a patent is unprofitable, the patent hodler will allow the patent to expire.
Then why are you acting like you do?
only USPTO workers educated in that field(computer science, for example) would be able to accept patents
Patents are already grouped into different technology centers. See this page for a broad overview of the different technology centers. After an application is filed, it is categorized (see here for the different categories) and an examiner in the appropriate technology center is assigned to the application.