I wrote this about a year ago. Copy/pasting because it's still relevant.
So, claims are regularly made suggesting that the music industry is failing, usually followed by claims that tougher laws are needed to protect the hard working people in the music industry. Â Small problem - it's not true. Â The music industry is not in as bad a situation as claims would suggest.ÂHere are some interesting statistics: Â Music publishing revenues are on an upward trend. Worldwide Music Publishing Revenues (2006 - 2011)Â http://grabstats.com/statmain.asp?StatID=69 $8.0 billion (2006) $8.3 billion (2007) $8.6 billion (2008) $8.9 billion (2009) $9.1 billion (2010) $9.4 billion (2011) Â Live music (concert) revenues are on a upward trend. Worldwide Live Music / Concert Revenues (2006 - 2011)Â http://grabstats.com/statmain.asp?StatID=70 $16.6 billion (2006) $18.1 billion (2007) $19.4 billion (2008) $20.8 billion (2009) $22.2 billion (2010) $23.5 billion (2011) Â The entire industry's revenues (*)Âare on an upward trend. Worldwide Music Industry Revenues (2006 - 2011)Â http://grabstats.com/statmain.asp?StatID=67 2006 ($60.7 billion) 2007 ($61.5 billion) 2008 ($62.6 billion) 2009 ($65.0 billion) 2010 ($66.4 billion) 2011 ($67.6 billion) Â * The "entire industry" isÂdefined as "Revenues are for record labels, music publishers, recording artists, performing artists, composers, concert venues and merchandise, companies; includes revenues from sales of physical recordings, digital music services (online and mobile), music publishing and live music." Â Â What is most interesting about these numbers is it supports what I have felt for a long time - the major players in the music industry have realized that CD sales are nice but that's not how to get rich - the big money (almost 2.5 times the money...) is in concerts. That is why acts like 'N Sync and Britney and Beiber and U2 and Lady Gaga and damn near everyone are regularly on tour. They've realized that people are spending more and more on actually going to the concert to experience the music. They realized that to be financially successful means touring a lot. CD sales makes one wealthy but a concert tour makes one rich. Â These numbers show that the music industry isn't failing. It isn't even shrinking. The _industry_ is growing, across the board. Yes, there are individual companies that might be suffering and there are individual bands that are suffering and there are probably specific geographic regions that are suffering but the industry, as a whole, is thriving - it is growing. Â One thing I do agree with the music industry, however, is that the internet is a big reason for this - we just disagree on the direction their profits are headed...
I have an iPhone. And an iPad. And an iMac. Because they are the devices that meet my needs and wants. If they didn't, I'd have bought something else. If being able to install whatever OS on my phone was important to me, I'd have bought something else. It isn't. I just want a smartphone that works damn well and that's what I got.
And, more so, Apple is updating the OS to help ensure that my phone remains secure from outside intrusion - as others have pointed out, even though this means that the jailbreak community is losing a vector to jailbreak the devices, it also means malicious hackers are losing that attack vector. Because that's what it is - an attack vector for potentially malicious code.
Anyhow, it's simple - if you want a totally open device that allows you to do whatever you want with it, then buy that device. Don't by a different device and then complain it doesn't do what you want. It's like buying a fridge and complaining it does a poor job of browning your toast in the morning. Buy the device that fits your wants and needs.
Sorry, this excuse just doesn't fly with me. If the company he's supposed to be in charge of is doing things like suing competitors without his permission or knowledge, then he's a failure as a CEO.
Crap like this being modded "Insightful" highlights just how far/. has fallen over the years as a source for actually insightful discussion of geek topics...
Not a developer - feel free to ignore as you will.
Your complaint is as a developer. You started the conversation about owning an iPhone, which is about being a consumer.
As a consumer, Apple provides some of the best legacy support in the industry. Yes, some things eventually become EOL but, compared to the other options, Apple products are supported a very long time from release.
As a developer, I would say this - any developer who thinks they can develop once and be done forever, especially in the rapidly changing landscape that is mobile, is delusional. To stay current means periodically being forced to adapt to an evolving OS landscape.
I would imagine that for every example of Apple breaking something in iOS as the system has evolved, someone (with more knowledge about the development environments than I have) can point out similar situations with Android (not singling out Android - it's just a two horse race and the others don't really matter, quite frankly...).
So, either complain as a developer (which isn't really relevant to this entire subject given that it has pretty much nothing at all to do with development) or complain as a consumer in which case you're wrong.
Apple provides some of the best legacy support for their devices of all mobile vendors. By a WIDE margin, in many cases given that most other mobile vendors stop supporting a device the instant it's sold...
Also, on the desktop side, they continued supporting OS9 apps for almost a decade after moving on from that OS, as but one example of their legacy support. They not only provide some of the best legacy support in the industry, they also provide a great deal of advance warning of when that legacy support os going to end.
So, aside from just being a troll, I don't have a clue what you're talking about.
My desktop doesn't have a built in keyboard. It requires an external keyboard to be plugged in or synced to have keyboard functionality.
My iPad has a built in (virtual) keyboard. It does not require an external keyboard to be synced to have keyboard functionality but, if I so choose, I can utilize one to have a physical keyboard.
So, by your keyboard criteria, my desktop is not a computer and my iPad is.
Or, as they've already announced, they plan on launching a new Mac Pro this year and see no reason to modify the existing design to meet new standards for a couple of months when their new machines, which are coming soon, probably meet those standards.
Or you can pretend that it's some elitist attitude thing because that sounds cool, right.
The math adds up once you view it through the lense of stock market manipulation. I suspect the source of the rumour will match up rather nicely with someone who made an enormous amount of money shorting Apple today.
Trademarks rights must be maintained through actual lawful use of the trademark. These rights will cease if a mark is not actively used for a period of time, normally 5 years in most jurisdictions. In the case of a trademark registration, failure to actively use the mark in the lawful course of trade, or to enforce the registration in the event of infringement, may also expose the registration itself to become liable for an application for the removal from the register after a certain period of time on the grounds of "non-use".
I'm an Apple fanboy and I wasn't left scratching my head at all. And anyone with even a basic understanding of trademark law wouldn't be either. Apple has a registered trademark for "App Store" ( http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4010:2zpo7n.2.5 ). If they failed to defend that trademark in court, they are assumed to accept unauthorized usage of the trademark. Even if defending it is a longshot (which this was), they must defend it or they lose it.
There are many examples from about 20 or 30 years ago but they are rare now because most legal departments have learned that if you want to keep your trademark protected, you are required to defend it.
This is different from copyrights and patents. Trademarks must be defended or they become harder and harder to defend.
So, no, I wasn't left scratching my head. I thought this lawsuit was a longshot but they were required to file it to defend their "App Store" trademark.
You have to think, with the relative lack of victory by any of the phone makers (Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google) in the court of law...
Yeah.
Ok.
Um.
Over $1 billion.
That's a "relative lack of victory in the court of law"?
While that case is still playing out (and probably will for a couple more years...), I'd say that a major victory has been won and the others are hoping to duplicate that win. While it would be nice if they all worked out cross-licensing deals (or, in the absence of such a deal, stopped copying each other...) and got on with making cool stuff, I don't see that happening just yet.
Did you seriously just claim that $99 is HUGE(in all caps, even)? Seriously? I would imagine, for the average developer, $99 per year is VERY low on their expenses, after things like coffee.
No. It isn't. The only people who think that are those that have an axe to grind with Apple.
a) Pretty much every other app store out there has the same deal and, more importantly
b) When a company sells digital software themselves, they don't get to keep 100% of the sale price. They have to pay for hosting, bandwidth, marketing, sales processing, manhours involved in all of this, etc., etc., etc. Those numbers start to add up very quickly and anyone who's been even vaguely involved in producing and selling a product knows that they can quickly add up to near or above 30%. And doing it yourself doesn't give you the same marketing potential that Apple has when they do it and that marketing potential is not easily ignored.
Seriously, the only people who still bring this up (and mod it "Insightful" on/.) are those who are utterly ignorant of reality and just want to gripe about Apple (while ignoring all the other app stores operating under the same terms).
Suicide rate of China: 22.23 per 100,000 Suicide rate of USA: 12.0 per 100,000 Suicide rate of Foxconn factories: 1.5 per 100,000
What can be theorized from this is that a) working at Foxconn is dramatically better than average life in China and b) working at Foxconn is dramatically better than average life in the United States of America.
Larry Sweet, the CTO of Symbotic, which makes autonomous mobile robots for use in warehouse distribution, described a possible scenario for Apple's U.S. factory.
So a guy with no insider information, no possible record for having such information, and an obvious bias in support of his theory, suggests Apple may possibly use robots, similar to those made by this guy's company?
Yeah - Apple might use a heavily automated manufacturing process. They might also use low-cost labour. They might do a lot of things. But basing entire Slashdot articles on obviously biased theories... well, it's just par for the course around here of late...
The difference is, on a Mac, you can still easily find the "Shutdown" menu option, should you want to. You don't need it all that often, but it's easy to find.
The sole reason I continue coming back is because of exactly the comments and conversations you're talking about. Hidden amongst the inane are some exceptionally insightful and informative posts that help inform me. Unfortunately, they're getting drowned in a sea of biased nerd-rage. Worse is when I see article summaries with such a blatant bias, where no hint of an attempt is made to hide the bias. That only serves to drive away thoughtful commenters and distract from a conversation I might otherwise be interested in...
Slashdot Mirror
Screw you Apple and your walled ...
What?
Oh...
Awkward...
First, did you even read my post? Did you not look at the numbers?
Second, Britney and Eminem (who barely tours...) are anomalies. Virtually every other big act makes MUCH more from tours.
http://www.theequitykicker.com/2010/01/22/top-artists-concert-revenues-typically-2-3x-their-album-sales/
I wrote this about a year ago. Copy/pasting because it's still relevant.
So, claims are regularly made suggesting that the music industry is failing, usually followed by claims that tougher laws are needed to protect the hard working people in the music industry.
Â
Small problem - it's not true.
Â
The music industry is not in as bad a situation as claims would suggest.ÂHere are some interesting statistics:
Â
Music publishing revenues are on an upward trend.
Worldwide Music Publishing Revenues (2006 - 2011)Â
http://grabstats.com/statmain.asp?StatID=69
$8.0 billion (2006)
$8.3 billion (2007)
$8.6 billion (2008)
$8.9 billion (2009)
$9.1 billion (2010)
$9.4 billion (2011)
Â
Live music (concert) revenues are on a upward trend.
Worldwide Live Music / Concert Revenues (2006 - 2011)Â
http://grabstats.com/statmain.asp?StatID=70
$16.6 billion (2006)
$18.1 billion (2007)
$19.4 billion (2008)
$20.8 billion (2009)
$22.2 billion (2010)
$23.5 billion (2011)
Â
The entire industry's revenues (*)Âare on an upward trend.
Worldwide Music Industry Revenues (2006 - 2011)Â
http://grabstats.com/statmain.asp?StatID=67
2006 ($60.7 billion)
2007 ($61.5 billion)
2008 ($62.6 billion)
2009 ($65.0 billion)
2010 ($66.4 billion)
2011 ($67.6 billion)
Â
* The "entire industry" isÂdefined as "Revenues are for record labels, music publishers, recording artists, performing artists, composers, concert venues and merchandise, companies; includes revenues from sales of physical recordings, digital music services (online and mobile), music publishing and live music."
Â
Â
What is most interesting about these numbers is it supports what I have felt for a long time - the major players in the music industry have realized that CD sales are nice but that's not how to get rich - the big money (almost 2.5 times the money...) is in concerts. That is why acts like 'N Sync and Britney and Beiber and U2 and Lady Gaga and damn near everyone are regularly on tour. They've realized that people are spending more and more on actually going to the concert to experience the music. They realized that to be financially successful means touring a lot. CD sales makes one wealthy but a concert tour makes one rich.
Â
These numbers show that the music industry isn't failing. It isn't even shrinking. The _industry_ is growing, across the board. Yes, there are individual companies that might be suffering and there are individual bands that are suffering and there are probably specific geographic regions that are suffering but the industry, as a whole, is thriving - it is growing.
Â
One thing I do agree with the music industry, however, is that the internet is a big reason for this - we just disagree on the direction their profits are headed...
Then don't buy an iPhone.
I have an iPhone. And an iPad. And an iMac. Because they are the devices that meet my needs and wants. If they didn't, I'd have bought something else. If being able to install whatever OS on my phone was important to me, I'd have bought something else. It isn't. I just want a smartphone that works damn well and that's what I got.
And, more so, Apple is updating the OS to help ensure that my phone remains secure from outside intrusion - as others have pointed out, even though this means that the jailbreak community is losing a vector to jailbreak the devices, it also means malicious hackers are losing that attack vector. Because that's what it is - an attack vector for potentially malicious code.
Anyhow, it's simple - if you want a totally open device that allows you to do whatever you want with it, then buy that device. Don't by a different device and then complain it doesn't do what you want. It's like buying a fridge and complaining it does a poor job of browning your toast in the morning. Buy the device that fits your wants and needs.
Sorry, this excuse just doesn't fly with me. If the company he's supposed to be in charge of is doing things like suing competitors without his permission or knowledge, then he's a failure as a CEO.
Crap like this being modded "Insightful" highlights just how far /. has fallen over the years as a source for actually insightful discussion of geek topics...
Not a developer - feel free to ignore as you will.
Your complaint is as a developer. You started the conversation about owning an iPhone, which is about being a consumer.
As a consumer, Apple provides some of the best legacy support in the industry. Yes, some things eventually become EOL but, compared to the other options, Apple products are supported a very long time from release.
As a developer, I would say this - any developer who thinks they can develop once and be done forever, especially in the rapidly changing landscape that is mobile, is delusional. To stay current means periodically being forced to adapt to an evolving OS landscape.
I would imagine that for every example of Apple breaking something in iOS as the system has evolved, someone (with more knowledge about the development environments than I have) can point out similar situations with Android (not singling out Android - it's just a two horse race and the others don't really matter, quite frankly...).
So, either complain as a developer (which isn't really relevant to this entire subject given that it has pretty much nothing at all to do with development) or complain as a consumer in which case you're wrong.
Apple provides some of the best legacy support for their devices of all mobile vendors. By a WIDE margin, in many cases given that most other mobile vendors stop supporting a device the instant it's sold...
Also, on the desktop side, they continued supporting OS9 apps for almost a decade after moving on from that OS, as but one example of their legacy support. They not only provide some of the best legacy support in the industry, they also provide a great deal of advance warning of when that legacy support os going to end.
So, aside from just being a troll, I don't have a clue what you're talking about.
My desktop doesn't have a built in keyboard. It requires an external keyboard to be plugged in or synced to have keyboard functionality.
My iPad has a built in (virtual) keyboard. It does not require an external keyboard to be synced to have keyboard functionality but, if I so choose, I can utilize one to have a physical keyboard.
So, by your keyboard criteria, my desktop is not a computer and my iPad is.
Or, as they've already announced, they plan on launching a new Mac Pro this year and see no reason to modify the existing design to meet new standards for a couple of months when their new machines, which are coming soon, probably meet those standards.
Or you can pretend that it's some elitist attitude thing because that sounds cool, right.
Two movies are being made about Jobs.
One is written by Aaron Sorkin.
One is staring Ashton Kutcher.
I'll let you guess to which one Woz is probably offering consulting comments.
The math adds up once you view it through the lense of stock market manipulation. I suspect the source of the rumour will match up rather nicely with someone who made an enormous amount of money shorting Apple today.
Fall of Blizzard?
Man, I wish my company could fall like Blizzard...
Ok, I'm not entirely the biggest Google fan but:
Google has long been willing to compromise on their "do no evil" mantra...
Evil?? Are you claiming this change to their terms of use is evil??
Wow. That word has literally lost all meaning, hasn't it...
Since I know someone will demand a citation of my assertion that trademarks must be defended, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark#Maintaining_rights
(Relevant section bolded for emphasis)
Trademarks rights must be maintained through actual lawful use of the trademark. These rights will cease if a mark is not actively used for a period of time, normally 5 years in most jurisdictions. In the case of a trademark registration, failure to actively use the mark in the lawful course of trade, or to enforce the registration in the event of infringement, may also expose the registration itself to become liable for an application for the removal from the register after a certain period of time on the grounds of "non-use".
I'm an Apple fanboy and I wasn't left scratching my head at all. And anyone with even a basic understanding of trademark law wouldn't be either. Apple has a registered trademark for "App Store" ( http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4010:2zpo7n.2.5 ). If they failed to defend that trademark in court, they are assumed to accept unauthorized usage of the trademark. Even if defending it is a longshot (which this was), they must defend it or they lose it.
There are many examples from about 20 or 30 years ago but they are rare now because most legal departments have learned that if you want to keep your trademark protected, you are required to defend it.
This is different from copyrights and patents. Trademarks must be defended or they become harder and harder to defend.
So, no, I wasn't left scratching my head. I thought this lawsuit was a longshot but they were required to file it to defend their "App Store" trademark.
What computer did you use to write that comment?
You have to think, with the relative lack of victory by any of the phone makers (Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google) in the court of law...
Yeah.
Ok.
Um.
Over $1 billion.
That's a "relative lack of victory in the court of law"?
While that case is still playing out (and probably will for a couple more years...), I'd say that a major victory has been won and the others are hoping to duplicate that win. While it would be nice if they all worked out cross-licensing deals (or, in the absence of such a deal, stopped copying each other...) and got on with making cool stuff, I don't see that happening just yet.
Did you seriously just claim that $99 is HUGE(in all caps, even)? Seriously? I would imagine, for the average developer, $99 per year is VERY low on their expenses, after things like coffee.
We clear have different definitions of HUGE...
I agree that a 30% cut is a bit too much...
No. It isn't. The only people who think that are those that have an axe to grind with Apple.
a) Pretty much every other app store out there has the same deal and, more importantly
b) When a company sells digital software themselves, they don't get to keep 100% of the sale price. They have to pay for hosting, bandwidth, marketing, sales processing, manhours involved in all of this, etc., etc., etc. Those numbers start to add up very quickly and anyone who's been even vaguely involved in producing and selling a product knows that they can quickly add up to near or above 30%. And doing it yourself doesn't give you the same marketing potential that Apple has when they do it and that marketing potential is not easily ignored.
Seriously, the only people who still bring this up (and mod it "Insightful" on /.) are those who are utterly ignorant of reality and just want to gripe about Apple (while ignoring all the other app stores operating under the same terms).
Ever heard of Android?
You might want to look into it.
ios =/= monopoly
Suicide rate of China: 22.23 per 100,000
Suicide rate of USA: 12.0 per 100,000
Suicide rate of Foxconn factories: 1.5 per 100,000
What can be theorized from this is that a) working at Foxconn is dramatically better than average life in China and b) working at Foxconn is dramatically better than average life in the United States of America.
Citations because I know someone's going to ask that I back up my numbers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Larry Sweet, the CTO of Symbotic, which makes autonomous mobile robots for use in warehouse distribution, described a possible scenario for Apple's U.S. factory.
So a guy with no insider information, no possible record for having such information, and an obvious bias in support of his theory, suggests Apple may possibly use robots, similar to those made by this guy's company?
Yeah - Apple might use a heavily automated manufacturing process. They might also use low-cost labour. They might do a lot of things. But basing entire Slashdot articles on obviously biased theories ... well, it's just par for the course around here of late...
Dude. Seriously. Chrome used WebKit. He k google's page on Chrome under "Speed" => "Fast to load web pages".
Chrome is powered by the WebKit open-source rendering engine...
The difference is, on a Mac, you can still easily find the "Shutdown" menu option, should you want to. You don't need it all that often, but it's easy to find.
The sole reason I continue coming back is because of exactly the comments and conversations you're talking about. Hidden amongst the inane are some exceptionally insightful and informative posts that help inform me. Unfortunately, they're getting drowned in a sea of biased nerd-rage. Worse is when I see article summaries with such a blatant bias, where no hint of an attempt is made to hide the bias. That only serves to drive away thoughtful commenters and distract from a conversation I might otherwise be interested in...