Pierre - I've been a fan PC Games for ages Conan. To play the latest and greatest games requires me to continually upgrade my computer. Recently I upgraded to Windows Vista by Microsoft in order to play their newest game "Shadowrun". My PC could handle it although there wasn't much benefit over using Windows XP. It, however, required a lot more RAM and faster CPU in order to run smoothly. The game itself required the best video card I could afford. This was a serious investment, the video card alone put me back about the price of a new "non-gaming" PC. All this new hardware also required a bigger power supply, which wound up adding to my expenses. I wound up replacing my entire PC in order to save money. And since I was only upgrading for one game only it was difficult to upgrade for that alone, but I did so knowing my investment would last a year or two. Now Microsoft has announced DirectX 10.1 which makes all hardware for DirectX 10 obsolete. This made my previous investment from a month ago already worthless. To add salt to my wounds most of the features of 10.1 were optional and did nothing to improve the product. PC Gaming is an enjoyable experience, although an expensive one. Hardware should last a minimum of 6 months cutting edge, and about a year for not-the-best but playable.
Bottom line America? Microsoft needs to realize that features need to be worthwhile and should always be optional. If they are truly worth it, they will be adopted as standard by the general public very quickly.
Conan - Thank you Pierre, I'm sure two or three people across America know exactly what you're feeling like.
You're assuming they will be selling movies. Here's another possibility:
You rent a movie for a few bucks. Watch it until your license expires (X plays or X days) and it deletes itself when you're done. You pay $3 bucks a movie or so. Or else subscribe for $10-20 bucks a month. Just like their Total Access, except instead of mailing the DVDs you download them.
It makes for a profitable business model for the _rental_ market. One that has a good possibility of success.
I think we are witnessing the death of the theater. As some said over at the Michael Geist site, who wants to go to a theater and be subjected to huge lines, searches, unsanitary conditions, and unassigned seating (aka huge waits while being beat in the head with ads) to see a movie they can purchase for life for $20.00 in 4 months? Death of the theater? Doubtful.
I find the audio high-quality and louder than I'm allowed to turn up my home stereo with neighbors. I find the screen far larger than any I could afford, or even have room for. I enjoy the stadium seating, it's no lazy-boy but it's quite nice for public seating. It allows me to do something I would do at home, but feel like I'm actually _doing_ something. I'm actively leaving the house and getting cleaned up to do so. It's great for dates. Some movies are designed for the big-screen. I'll watch a comedy or drama at home, no problem, but a good action flick, I want it larger than life.
Until I can afford to build my own personal theater to invite my friends over to, I'll still be paying the $8 for a ticket to enjoy the experience the theater provides and more importantly a 'night out on the town'.
why not just rebrand bittorrent clients as MSCD clients? Everyone wins! Horrible horrible idea. Think about how MS uses existing standards. IE's HTML for example. If bittorrent became MSCD clients. There's nothing to stop them from hi-jacking the protocol altogether making non-MS versions crippled, incompatible, or even non-existent.
As a secondary thought hopefully their product isn't so good that people flock to it, stealing so much market share they get greedy and start charging for it. MSCD Express for free. MSCD for the "real" paid version.
Why not make it 25 years or the death of the artist, whichever comes later? Heh... I see my mistake, I read "whichever comes first" not later. I'll just crawl over here and die now.
Why not make it 25 years or the death of the artist, whichever comes later?
I don't think it's that simple. Suppose a young musician is moderately popular, and is out on tour. Suppose (s)he dies in an accident, and their death sparks a tidal wave of interest in the musician. Now what if they had a very young child and widow? Are you suggesting the child and widow should be on welfare or be a working single-parent, when their spouse had more than enough money to support them if only they weren't screwed over by a copyright expiring at the artist's death? I'm pretty sure the dead musician would've wanted his family taken care of.
I really don't understand why the copyright couldn't be 25 or 50 years and leave it at that. It doesn't seem unreasonable.
You'd think they'd learn from other media such as music and movies. You either adapt to the internet and reform your business model to include it, or you suffer the consequences.
But this is precisely what the bible teaches about death. [note: no one is required to read this]
Dead cannot think: Psalms 146:4 His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
It also says the soul dies at death: Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinning, it shall die. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Therefore the soul cannot think either. Aka no out of body experiences. Please note I'm not discussing heaven etc, just the state of the dead/soul.
Tyler sold his soap^h gasoline to department^h convenience stores at $20 a bar^h gallon. Lord knows what they charged. It was beautiful. We were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them.
I'll go one stage further and guess that not only is it free but compulsory. I bet this will get buried in some 'security patch' that Windows Update will not let you avoid. By "software" I meant Windows OS itself. Not just the update to add this. As in AOL-CDs-in-your-mailbox free.
Are they planning on releasing the software for free? I always associate things I pay for as ad-free (with exceptions of course). I haven't seen pay-per-view in years but I don't remember any ads outside of upcoming shows. The general public gets hissy if they are forced to see ads _and_ pay for a service usually. Unless Microsoft has an ace up it's sleeve, I can't but help see this as destroying MS Windows and opening the door for Mac/Linux/etc.
If I could go buy say that Star Wars soundtrack on DVD-Audio tomorrow, I would. But I don't believe I can. If I had to guess nobody wanted to go through 25 years of CDs and remix them to 5.1 channel surround sound. Can't say I blame them, but it pretty much killed the format.
whatever-happened-to-mini-discs Summary: mini-discs don't support mp3
Commentor's Cut: I hated hauling around a 50-100 cd carrier back in the day to hold all of my music. Ipods didn't exist yet, the only mp3 players (with a HDD) were horrible - fragile and with about 2 hours of battery life. So when I noticed the mini-disc played mp3s I was intrigued. I could hold all of my 50-100 CDs worth of music on (i was hoping) 10-15 mini discs. Even if they were 1:1, a mini-disc is much smaller than a CD. So I bought one.
Turns out it _didn't_ play mp3s. It "supported" mp3s by converting them to a proprietary Sony format. Which still could've been okay but the compression ratio wasn't very good for "better quality". I returned my space saving mini-disc player a day or two later, as soon as I realized it wasn't the answer I was looking for.
The mini-disc was cool in my eyes. Very compact and writable, it could reduce my carry-around music collection to something manageable. But it didn't support mp3s. This was back in the napster days. This single change could've made it a great format even today. I wouldn't be surprised to see a graph with the CD-R market booming, and the mini-disc market failing.
I've noticed when browsing for answers for specific problems I'm having, I'll find an answer I could post to some random web forum. Most of those however require registration, and I never bother. If I'm already a member I'll post it, but sometimes it's just not worth jumping through a dozen hoops to post a random answer. Especially considering they might never check that six month old post ever again.
Slashdot Mirror
Conan - Are you comfortable and angry Pierre?
Pierre - Comfortable and furious Conan.
Conan - So what are you upset about today?
Pierre - I've been a fan PC Games for ages Conan. To play the latest and greatest games requires me to continually upgrade my computer. Recently I upgraded to Windows Vista by Microsoft in order to play their newest game "Shadowrun". My PC could handle it although there wasn't much benefit over using Windows XP. It, however, required a lot more RAM and faster CPU in order to run smoothly. The game itself required the best video card I could afford. This was a serious investment, the video card alone put me back about the price of a new "non-gaming" PC. All this new hardware also required a bigger power supply, which wound up adding to my expenses. I wound up replacing my entire PC in order to save money. And since I was only upgrading for one game only it was difficult to upgrade for that alone, but I did so knowing my investment would last a year or two. Now Microsoft has announced DirectX 10.1 which makes all hardware for DirectX 10 obsolete. This made my previous investment from a month ago already worthless. To add salt to my wounds most of the features of 10.1 were optional and did nothing to improve the product. PC Gaming is an enjoyable experience, although an expensive one. Hardware should last a minimum of 6 months cutting edge, and about a year for not-the-best but playable.
Bottom line America? Microsoft needs to realize that features need to be worthwhile and should always be optional. If they are truly worth it, they will be adopted as standard by the general public very quickly.
Conan - Thank you Pierre, I'm sure two or three people across America know exactly what you're feeling like.
You're assuming they will be selling movies. Here's another possibility:
You rent a movie for a few bucks. Watch it until your license expires (X plays or X days) and it deletes itself when you're done. You pay $3 bucks a movie or so. Or else subscribe for $10-20 bucks a month. Just like their Total Access, except instead of mailing the DVDs you download them.
It makes for a profitable business model for the _rental_ market. One that has a good possibility of success.
And now you know... the REST of the story!
It's not perfect but maybe IPM could be sued for copyright infringement...
International Parallel Machines Inc. v. International Business Machines Co.
Probably not illegal, but it sure is fishy.
I find the audio high-quality and louder than I'm allowed to turn up my home stereo with neighbors.
I find the screen far larger than any I could afford, or even have room for.
I enjoy the stadium seating, it's no lazy-boy but it's quite nice for public seating.
It allows me to do something I would do at home, but feel like I'm actually _doing_ something. I'm actively leaving the house and getting cleaned up to do so.
It's great for dates.
Some movies are designed for the big-screen. I'll watch a comedy or drama at home, no problem, but a good action flick, I want it larger than life.
Until I can afford to build my own personal theater to invite my friends over to, I'll still be paying the $8 for a ticket to enjoy the experience the theater provides and more importantly a 'night out on the town'.
As a secondary thought hopefully their product isn't so good that people flock to it, stealing so much market share they get greedy and start charging for it. MSCD Express for free. MSCD for the "real" paid version.
Please, keep them separate.
Why not make it 25 years or the death of the artist, whichever comes later?
I don't think it's that simple. Suppose a young musician is moderately popular, and is out on tour. Suppose (s)he dies in an accident, and their death sparks a tidal wave of interest in the musician. Now what if they had a very young child and widow? Are you suggesting the child and widow should be on welfare or be a working single-parent, when their spouse had more than enough money to support them if only they weren't screwed over by a copyright expiring at the artist's death? I'm pretty sure the dead musician would've wanted his family taken care of.
I really don't understand why the copyright couldn't be 25 or 50 years and leave it at that. It doesn't seem unreasonable.
Keith Richards has some pretty wild dreams....
I'd rather not think about what they could be.
If a song is good enough to still earn money after 50 years, the artist is probably richer than his wildest dreams. Read as: doesn't need the income.
I'd vote with my money and buy XP, but then I'd be, you know, voting with my money and buying XP!
You'd think they'd learn from other media such as music and movies. You either adapt to the internet and reform your business model to include it, or you suffer the consequences.
Seriously, wake up and smell the javascript.
But this is precisely what the bible teaches about death. [note: no one is required to read this]
Dead cannot think:
Psalms 146:4 His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
It also says the soul dies at death:
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinning, it shall die.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Therefore the soul cannot think either. Aka no out of body experiences. Please note I'm not discussing heaven etc, just the state of the dead/soul.
Hammer me down mods! [flamesuit="on"]
Tyler sold his soap^h gasoline to department^h convenience stores at $20 a bar^h gallon. Lord knows what they charged. It was beautiful. We were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them.
Is it possible to one-up that? Perhaps give them an 'incorrect' password. One that makes the data worthless?
Are they planning on releasing the software for free? I always associate things I pay for as ad-free (with exceptions of course). I haven't seen pay-per-view in years but I don't remember any ads outside of upcoming shows. The general public gets hissy if they are forced to see ads _and_ pay for a service usually. Unless Microsoft has an ace up it's sleeve, I can't but help see this as destroying MS Windows and opening the door for Mac/Linux/etc.
We cannot allow a school mineshaft gap!
If I could go buy say that Star Wars soundtrack on DVD-Audio tomorrow, I would. But I don't believe I can. If I had to guess nobody wanted to go through 25 years of CDs and remix them to 5.1 channel surround sound. Can't say I blame them, but it pretty much killed the format.
4-8GB of mp3 space vs 800MB for a CD-R.
Commentor's Cut: I hated hauling around a 50-100 cd carrier back in the day to hold all of my music. Ipods didn't exist yet, the only mp3 players (with a HDD) were horrible - fragile and with about 2 hours of battery life. So when I noticed the mini-disc played mp3s I was intrigued. I could hold all of my 50-100 CDs worth of music on (i was hoping) 10-15 mini discs. Even if they were 1:1, a mini-disc is much smaller than a CD. So I bought one.
Turns out it _didn't_ play mp3s. It "supported" mp3s by converting them to a proprietary Sony format. Which still could've been okay but the compression ratio wasn't very good for "better quality". I returned my space saving mini-disc player a day or two later, as soon as I realized it wasn't the answer I was looking for.
The mini-disc was cool in my eyes. Very compact and writable, it could reduce my carry-around music collection to something manageable. But it didn't support mp3s. This was back in the napster days. This single change could've made it a great format even today. I wouldn't be surprised to see a graph with the CD-R market booming, and the mini-disc market failing.
I've noticed when browsing for answers for specific problems I'm having, I'll find an answer I could post to some random web forum. Most of those however require registration, and I never bother. If I'm already a member I'll post it, but sometimes it's just not worth jumping through a dozen hoops to post a random answer. Especially considering they might never check that six month old post ever again.
I'm sure I'm not alone.