The mythical $20 album always pops up on these sorts of discussions. If your belief that albums cost $20 is driving your use of P2P, check your assumptions. New CD releases average less than $14 now.
In your neighborhood maybe. I just checked, and the average price of normal, plain CD releases is ~20 euros around here. That's 26 American dollars... I don't use that as an excuse to get stuff from Bittorrent by the way, just wanted to point the different prices out.
I agree with your "90% of everything" rule, and I'd go even further -- I'm pretty much convinced that popular culture is "better" today than it was in the sixties. Read Everything bad is good for you -- how popular culture is making us smarter if you want to find my reasoning.
IBM still, somehow, has delusions of relevance in the software world.
Well, that's one way to look at it. In reality, however, the IBM software division is a giant. A giant that also seems to be quite profitable (it is responsible for over a third of the total IBM profit in 2005) and growing. Admittedly, the growth is mostly the result of the shopping spree Big Blue has been on for the last five years, but hey -- if you've got the cash and there are smart companies available (Rational, FileNet, MRO and ISS to name just a few) why not spend the odd 10 billion?
Frankly I have no idea what you could have meant with that comment. Maybe you can open it up for me?
Sure, but an average audiophile is also convinced that 1000$ cables sound better than 100$ cables... So, do you know of any ABX test results of CD vs. FLAC (both played by a good quality DA-converter naturally) or are you just telling us what the average audiophile would like the results to be?
I'm not picking a fight here, I'd be really interested to read about a test if there's been one...
wow -- that's seriously the first time I've ever heard anyone say anything about the logical cooperation between distros that should be happening but just isn't, from what I've seen.
Let's see... Distributions have been based on other distros for as long as I can remember and distros have used software developed by other distros forever. So what actually is different now -- why is this the first time you heard about it? I'm betting that Canonical and Linspire just have better marketing departments to push out press releases.
Also, having to open address book in a new window is annoying.
Well, there are time when you can't please everyone -- design decisions have to be made. Fortunately the extension system often helps if the decision is not what you like:
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"We need to look at your computers to make sure your software is licensed." Says the BSA. "Hell no, now get off our property"... Says small business owner.
"Take a look at the EULA you accepted when you bought Microsoft software, and bend over please" continues BSA.
It would appear on the surface that Capitalism will inevitably lead to a highly oppressive society where rich people rule over large masses of poor people. But it is not true. Proven scientifically.
That may be. The problem is that it's not proven in practice -- or can you point to a pure unregulated economy that actually works?
Nobody had ever been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. But according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation in force at that time, the Nobel Prizes could, under certain circumstances, be awarded posthumously. Thus it was possible to give Gandhi the prize. However, Gandhi did not belong to an organisation, he left no property behind and no will; who should receive the Prize money? The Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, August Schou, asked another of the Committee's advisers, lawyer Ole Torleif Røed, to consider the practical consequences if the Committee were to award the Prize posthumously. Røed suggested a number of possible solutions for general application. Subsequently, he asked the Swedish prize-awarding institutions for their opinion. The answers were negative; posthumous awards, they thought, should not take place unless the laureate died after the Committee's decision had been made.
On November 18, 1948, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to make no award that year on the grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate". Chairman Gunnar Jahn wrote in his diary: "To me it seems beyond doubt that a posthumous award would be contrary to the intentions of the testator." According to the chairman, three of his colleagues agreed in the end, only Mr. Oftedal was in favour of a posthumous award to Gandhi.
Now the important question: If James Brown had had a way to collect royalties on all those songs, would that have inspired him to create more songs? Theoretically that's what copyright is about...
Linus has said before that he'd probably choose a different licens if had was to choose one today.
Would you mind backing that up with a reference? I've seen him comment on the GPL several time in interviews, and all of those comments have been fairly positive.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1731874,00.as p: "I don't think the GPL is perfect, and one of my issues has been how verbose it is. Another is just the politics involved, which I haven't always enjoyed."... "But, hey, nothing is ever perfect. So while I may have some niggling concerns with the GPL, they are in the details, and in the end, I actually think that the GPL simply is the best license for the kernel."
What people really need to realize is that research has suggested CP actually protects more children than it hurts.
You really ought to back that up with a link or at least the name of the study. I know it's not a habit around here... but in this case your claim is just not credible without some backup.
I thought I read a statistic somewhere that the Porn Industry's revinues were as large as the Movie, Music and Videogame industries' revinues combined;
You read that in an interview of someone in the porn industry. He lied. In reality porn is way smaller than gaming, music or movies.
Yes, but if you aren't going to respect the Microsoft license and you are going to trust random programs you download, why stop there? Just download a cracked XP or Vista...
After checking the feature set on Apple's web site, mark me down for at least two of those things.
You sure are eager. Apple does have a history of being better than average at UI design, but I'm not going to believe the iPhone UI works until I try it: Apple isn't the first company to think about a stylus-less touch screen, it's just that others have decided it doesn't work... We'll see if Apple proves them wrong.
I'm a big fan of mobile internet, so I was eager to find out the specs of the phone. Sadly the first version is a disappointment: a screen that's too small for todays web and no 3G. I hope at least the latter gets fixed in future versions.
I chose the software because it not only did everything I needed security wise, but was incredibly easy for the end user (e.g. just download it and double-click it).
Judging from your story, it seems it wasn't so easy after all...
This is something we will see a lot in the future, if content owners and users do not start getting a clue about the DRM trap... People will be left with piles of worthless bits.
"has become"? Maybe you should do some research find out what Free Software means and has meant for as long as the term has existed... What you are suggesting is not even close to the definition pretty much everyone else uses.
Read, then reply. That's the correct order, try it next time.
He wasn't against building somewhere else, he was worried that he would be financially so ruined that he couldn't... Now, I don't understand why he couldn't take an insurance against that happening and/or get an environmental impact study on the area, but he clearly wasn't trying to "destroy a species for a god damn piece of land".
You are saying that rehabilitation is not smart, because you'd rather kill all murderers? Fine, that's a solution. The question is, what are you going to do with other criminals -- the ones you won't kill (I'm assuming there are crimes you wouldn't kill for)?
Would you put a robber to prison for 20 years and punish him as much as possible for the whole time, and when he's served his time just throw him to the street? That'll make the robber adapt really well to society... Just think for yourself: Twenty years without a real job, without any education, without outside contacts, without any ability to cope with modern life. Do you really want guys like that on the streets?
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Frankly I have no idea what you could have meant with that comment. Maybe you can open it up for me?
Some countries have very lax laws regarding sex with children. By your logic child porn videos imported from there should be legal.
I'm not picking a fight here, I'd be really interested to read about a test if there's been one...
The guy specifically said he's not interested in solutions that include a file server in a closet... That said, the squeezebox really is great.
Now the important question: If James Brown had had a way to collect royalties on all those songs, would that have inspired him to create more songs? Theoretically that's what copyright is about...
That may be a race, but a race condition is something else...
Would you mind backing that up with a reference? I've seen him comment on the GPL several time in interviews, and all of those comments have been fairly positive.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1731874,00.a
http://www.tlug.jp/docs/linus.html: "Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did."
You really ought to back that up with a link or at least the name of the study. I know it's not a habit around here... but in this case your claim is just not credible without some backup.
You read that in an interview of someone in the porn industry. He lied. In reality porn is way smaller than gaming, music or movies.
This Forbes article is old so you'll need to find current statistics yourself, but it does explain the phenomen:a http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html
Yes, but if you aren't going to respect the Microsoft license and you are going to trust random programs you download, why stop there? Just download a cracked XP or Vista...
Actually, that seems to be the main purpose of many expensive CRM installations.
You sure are eager. Apple does have a history of being better than average at UI design, but I'm not going to believe the iPhone UI works until I try it: Apple isn't the first company to think about a stylus-less touch screen, it's just that others have decided it doesn't work... We'll see if Apple proves them wrong.
I'm a big fan of mobile internet, so I was eager to find out the specs of the phone. Sadly the first version is a disappointment: a screen that's too small for todays web and no 3G. I hope at least the latter gets fixed in future versions.
Judging from your story, it seems it wasn't so easy after all...
This is something we will see a lot in the future, if content owners and users do not start getting a clue about the DRM trap... People will be left with piles of worthless bits.
That's still Beta, I hope...
"has become"? Maybe you should do some research find out what Free Software means and has meant for as long as the term has existed... What you are suggesting is not even close to the definition pretty much everyone else uses.
Read, then reply. That's the correct order, try it next time.
He wasn't against building somewhere else, he was worried that he would be financially so ruined that he couldn't... Now, I don't understand why he couldn't take an insurance against that happening and/or get an environmental impact study on the area, but he clearly wasn't trying to "destroy a species for a god damn piece of land".
You are saying that rehabilitation is not smart, because you'd rather kill all murderers? Fine, that's a solution. The question is, what are you going to do with other criminals -- the ones you won't kill (I'm assuming there are crimes you wouldn't kill for)?
Would you put a robber to prison for 20 years and punish him as much as possible for the whole time, and when he's served his time just throw him to the street? That'll make the robber adapt really well to society... Just think for yourself: Twenty years without a real job, without any education, without outside contacts, without any ability to cope with modern life. Do you really want guys like that on the streets?
Yeah, right. I think you need to think that over before calling other people dumb.
Look at the bright side: When they're standing in that line, they're off your lawn.