So, I have to ask a question, having looked at your site.
Why bother with reverse engineering ALAC? So far, I have seen / read mention of only one major useful thing that has been learned: ALAC uses adaptive compression algorithms.
You state on your site that you don't like being locked into restrictive DRM formats. So, don't allow yourself to get locked into it. Don't support it.
Given the information you have gathered about the format, it seems to me that it would be far more productive to join the FLAC team, and work with them towards adding adaptive compression to FLAC.
IMO, it's through direct support of open projects such as OggVorbis and FLAC, and companies that are willing to implement these open products (such as iRiver) that we will end up with products that work the way we want them to.
I wasn't comparing the results that Einstein produced to those of programmer / geeks. Rather I was comparing the attributes of thought processes.
Besides, who isn't to say that there haven't been similar (although not of the same magnitude) results produced? For example, how about the invention of the graphical user interface paradigm. Or, as another example, the invention of the OO paradigm. While not of the same magnitude, certainly comparing the paradigmatic shifts with Einstein's theories is a valid.
Not that I would make such comparisons, mind you... The vast majority of technological shifts are much smaller in scope and and don't generally constitute paradigmatic change. However, that doesn't invalidate the comparison itself.
Okay - finally someone who's into the same thing that I am. Writing is a great way to take the ideas and concepts that cannot be expressed in geek terms.
Like the link too -- don't think I'd seen this site before...
I've actually come to the conclusion that it goes a step further...
I believe that it's really a control issue. There are so many things that we can't control in the real world, however in the computer world we can control many things.
That's not to say that programmers / geeks are a paranoid lot. Rather just that we like the idea that we can create a model of the world around us, and use it to experiment within and try to understand it better.
I think it's because we tend to be indoor dwellers who get lost in our work/visions/dreams in a sort of Einsteinian trance-like haze that precludes the real world... "Take a shower? Uhh, I need to fix the table index in this database first..." many hours later... "Eat? Umm, in a bit, I need to figure out why this field has garbage in it..."
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So, I have to ask a question, having looked at your site.
Why bother with reverse engineering ALAC? So far, I have seen / read mention of only one major useful thing that has been learned: ALAC uses adaptive compression algorithms.
You state on your site that you don't like being locked into restrictive DRM formats. So, don't allow yourself to get locked into it. Don't support it.
Given the information you have gathered about the format, it seems to me that it would be far more productive to join the FLAC team, and work with them towards adding adaptive compression to FLAC.
IMO, it's through direct support of open projects such as OggVorbis and FLAC, and companies that are willing to implement these open products (such as iRiver) that we will end up with products that work the way we want them to.
Especially in light of the raid of MS's Japan office....
Besides, who isn't to say that there haven't been similar (although not of the same magnitude) results produced? For example, how about the invention of the graphical user interface paradigm. Or, as another example, the invention of the OO paradigm. While not of the same magnitude, certainly comparing the paradigmatic shifts with Einstein's theories is a valid.
Not that I would make such comparisons, mind you... The vast majority of technological shifts are much smaller in scope and and don't generally constitute paradigmatic change. However, that doesn't invalidate the comparison itself.
Okay - finally someone who's into the same thing that I am. Writing is a great way to take the ideas and concepts that cannot be expressed in geek terms. Like the link too -- don't think I'd seen this site before...
Oh no... Red Green references now...
I've actually come to the conclusion that it goes a step further...
I believe that it's really a control issue. There are so many things that we can't control in the real world, however in the computer world we can control many things.
That's not to say that programmers / geeks are a paranoid lot. Rather just that we like the idea that we can create a model of the world around us, and use it to experiment within and try to understand it better.
I think it's because we tend to be indoor dwellers who get lost in our work/visions/dreams in a sort of Einsteinian trance-like haze that precludes the real world... "Take a shower? Uhh, I need to fix the table index in this database first..." many hours later... "Eat? Umm, in a bit, I need to figure out why this field has garbage in it..."
Dude...look at the definition again...