...why use technology when you have a comparatively free workforce clamoring for a job, any job?
And technology won't eliminate immigrant labor, just drive their wages to even lower desperate levels to compete with their new robotic fruit-picking overlords. The technology is not the goal, its just a bargaining chip.
It's about public humiliation of the RIAA. Imagine a bully, who prefers picking on the weak, is confronted by a real bruiser who starts blowing his nose on the bully's shirt. The bully now has the unfortunate choice of either pretending ignorance, or responding with violence which will end up with him on the ground, bleeding from both ends. Either option is humiliating for the bully.
It shows to everyone what the bully truly is about: cowardice. All the bully can do is glare at the tormenter.
In the case of the RIAA, they are faced with a lose-lose-lose situation: even if they bring a case, and even if they win it, they lose politically. If they lose the case, they establish a bad precedent for themselves. Public humiliation is the least damaging of their options.
Remember the 486SX? I believe it was the same as the regular 486, except with the floating point math coprocessor disabled. I seem to recall that due to manufacturing defects, some chips came out with a broken math coprocessor, but everything else was fine. So these were dubbed SX and sold at a discount. (I'm still not sure if this is correct, about relabeling broken cpu's.)
Anyhow, Microsoft's not the only one to do this kind of stuff. Of course, they don't have the excuse Intel had.
Installed Vista on my laptop a couple months ago (dual boot with XP Pro), activated it, played with it a bit, then promptly forgot it. A few weeks later, I booted into it again, and this time it tells me I have an illegal copy of Windows.
First, I called the vendor and started crawling up their butt about how they must have sold me a bogus copy. They tried the "it's outside of our return period policy" line, but I just came back with "Do you really want me telling Microsoft where I got my bogus Vista?"
So they gave me the number to Microsoft's WGA team. Called that number, gave them my story, and they told me I had to "Validate" now. I already activated, now they want me to Validate. So fine, I jumped through their hoop, got the goddamned thing "Validated."
And as if I wasn't already pissed enough, the helpful MS drone told me that if my hard drive died, I'd have to buy a new copy of Vista in order to reinstall on the new disk. My old activation code would not work now. (She acted like this was normal and acceptable to lose a software license due to a hardware failure.) I felt like I must have popped a blood vessel as I "forcefully" told her how I would never buy Vista again, regretted buying this one, and would make it my mission to convert people over to Linux, probably Ubuntu.
Do judges just think computers are magic boxes which they can order to do whatever they may like, and that there are no limits of technical feasibility?
Why, yes. Yes they do. They think they can have the letter M stricken from the alphabet, repeal Tuesday, and control objective reality itself. I think there's a Simpson's reference to back me up on this one.
I tried ordering a recovery cd set from them just recently. After being forwarded multiple times, the person at the end of the line tried to help me troubleshoot the problem, even though I clearly said just send me the damn cd, the hard disk is toast, here's my credit card. 2 hours later, they agree to send me the cd, and I gave them a credit card number, and I eventually got it, but no invoice. They tried to explain how their accounting system couldn't "do that." All the while acting like nobody would ever need one of *those*.
I would think that there might be a state law somewhere stating that a business must provide an invoice on demand for any financial transaction with a customer, but maybe it is such an assumed thing in business, that nobody has yet passed such a law.
...methods such as public-key cryptography, on which almost all Internet commerce is based, which allows a secret key to be derived from publicly available information.
Maybe he just worded that wrong, but if you can derive the secret key like that, you're messing up. Maybe he meant that messages can be encrypted and sent with the public key, and decrypted with the secret key.
Things are defined vaguely in order to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear-- they want de facto suppression of that which cannot otherwise be legally and explicitly suppressed. However, draw the line clearly, and some hippy (from their point of view) will stand with his toes on that line giving them the raspberry.
Then I suggest we give them both thermonuclear weapons and egg 'em on. (Want to play a game?) Actually, just this once I'd like to see Microsoft nuke Jack Thompson from orbit. Twice. ITOWTBS.
Did they achieve these "polaritons" by reversing the phase array on the main deflector dish? (Well, OK, just so long as they don't try crossing the streams...)
come out and say that it's a measure to defeat privacy
Sure, but the suits will never talk about the elephant in the living room. Just like the politicians, who get caught with their dicks in their hands, later that week resign "to spend more time with their family."
I'd also expect to see most cinemas go out of business.
People expected that when TV was invented. Every time some new home theatre system or technology comes out, people keep predicting the early demise of cinema...
Know when to hold them,
Know when to fold them,
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run,
You never count your money
when you're sitting at the table,
There'll be time enough for counting,
When the dealing's done.
-- Kenny Rogers
And yes, I think Microsoft is bluffing as to the number of patents, and is acting in bad faith: if indeed there is infringing code, they don't want it fixed, they want to use it as leverage to kill Linux. As we've all suspected would happen, Microsoft has finally come out from behind their hillock.
Slashdot Mirror
And technology won't eliminate immigrant labor, just drive their wages to even lower desperate levels to compete with their new robotic fruit-picking overlords. The technology is not the goal, its just a bargaining chip.
It shows to everyone what the bully truly is about: cowardice. All the bully can do is glare at the tormenter.
In the case of the RIAA, they are faced with a lose-lose-lose situation: even if they bring a case, and even if they win it, they lose politically. If they lose the case, they establish a bad precedent for themselves. Public humiliation is the least damaging of their options.
Actually, those eyes would be counted too. If the cat/dog was facing away from the screen, only one eye would be counted.
Anyhow, Microsoft's not the only one to do this kind of stuff. Of course, they don't have the excuse Intel had.
First, I called the vendor and started crawling up their butt about how they must have sold me a bogus copy. They tried the "it's outside of our return period policy" line, but I just came back with "Do you really want me telling Microsoft where I got my bogus Vista?"
So they gave me the number to Microsoft's WGA team. Called that number, gave them my story, and they told me I had to "Validate" now. I already activated, now they want me to Validate. So fine, I jumped through their hoop, got the goddamned thing "Validated."
And as if I wasn't already pissed enough, the helpful MS drone told me that if my hard drive died, I'd have to buy a new copy of Vista in order to reinstall on the new disk. My old activation code would not work now. (She acted like this was normal and acceptable to lose a software license due to a hardware failure.) I felt like I must have popped a blood vessel as I "forcefully" told her how I would never buy Vista again, regretted buying this one, and would make it my mission to convert people over to Linux, probably Ubuntu.
Did they find a talking frog?
Why, yes. Yes they do. They think they can have the letter M stricken from the alphabet, repeal Tuesday, and control objective reality itself. I think there's a Simpson's reference to back me up on this one.
And these guys get arrested for destruction of evidence when they find that the RAM is blank. Un-freaking-believable.
I would think that there might be a state law somewhere stating that a business must provide an invoice on demand for any financial transaction with a customer, but maybe it is such an assumed thing in business, that nobody has yet passed such a law.
Fucking idiots with thumbs up their arse.
Maybe he just worded that wrong, but if you can derive the secret key like that, you're messing up. Maybe he meant that messages can be encrypted and sent with the public key, and decrypted with the secret key.
Things are defined vaguely in order to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear-- they want de facto suppression of that which cannot otherwise be legally and explicitly suppressed. However, draw the line clearly, and some hippy (from their point of view) will stand with his toes on that line giving them the raspberry.
Or rather: is that 2 TB in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
Then I suggest we give them both thermonuclear weapons and egg 'em on. (Want to play a game?) Actually, just this once I'd like to see Microsoft nuke Jack Thompson from orbit. Twice. ITOWTBS.
Don't try to understand strained humor written by somebody with just 5 hours of sleep. It will just hurt your brain.
"Our WiFi access will blot out the Sun!"
"So we will surf in the shade!"
Rectu.ms? Damn near killede.ms!
Did they achieve these "polaritons" by reversing the phase array on the main deflector dish? (Well, OK, just so long as they don't try crossing the streams...)
Never one around when you need it most.
Sure, but the suits will never talk about the elephant in the living room. Just like the politicians, who get caught with their dicks in their hands, later that week resign "to spend more time with their family."
Here's the challenge: record the Superbowl, then watch it for the first time 2 months later. And still be able to watch it with any sense of suspense.
Note to future self: remember when an exabyte (a million terabytes) was a lot of storage. However, it'll take 2.5 years to fsck it all.
Thanks for clearing that up. That made my head asplode.
People expected that when TV was invented. Every time some new home theatre system or technology comes out, people keep predicting the early demise of cinema...
Know when to fold them,
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run,
You never count your money
when you're sitting at the table,
There'll be time enough for counting,
When the dealing's done.
-- Kenny Rogers
And yes, I think Microsoft is bluffing as to the number of patents, and is acting in bad faith: if indeed there is infringing code, they don't want it fixed, they want to use it as leverage to kill Linux. As we've all suspected would happen, Microsoft has finally come out from behind their hillock.
And I was just getting to like them! (Yay...?)