Basically the fact that actions of an entire University will be monitored by a private application from an organization/corporation in an attempt to stamp out piracy.
Let them get away with one thing, say network monitoring, and they'll start wanting more control. Pretty soon the RIAA will be installing applications on every University ISP trying to nail those students who download music.
They have better things to do than play Gestapo and coerce people into giving them money. That's all this is about. The street vendors in China that sell pirated movies are more of a direct threat to their profit than people who download over the internet. The fact is, everyone and their brother has the ability to download these movies, but do they? No. If they did, then movies like The Passion wouldn't have become $300 million + sellers, movies like the Matrix, or any other handful of movies released in the past year that went on to make 2-3x their budget.
Yeah, downloading movies (or actually, sharing movies) may be illegal, but let the law enforcement take care of this, not some private organization.
So many different apps use so many different ports, you couldn't possibly block all ports and expect to stop anon p2p without pissing off the majority of your OTHER users who DON'T use it (like online gamers, people who work from home, etc)
With every MPAA story like this, you get all kinds of sheep coming out of the woodwork stating things like, "Good, downloading movies is illegal and this is just!" without realizing a lot of your rights are going down the toilet simply because some cry baby organization/company is claiming "copyright infringment" even though it's been going on for YEARS, long before the internet ever made it popular.
These Universities need to tell them to piss off. They're just gonna get it even worse once anonymous P2P hits the masses.
Some sound cards suck and are not supported by Linux...or the original manufactures that went out of business 10 years ago and took the specs with them
Linksys WPC11 v4. About a year old, doesn't work whatsoever with Linux. If you have this card and want to get it to work in Linux, your only option is to buy another one.
That's just flat out ridiculous. Linksys is probably the biggest name in home networking!! Granted, it's more their fault than Linux's.
It's quite unpopular to go against the grain on/. with an opinion like this, but it's the truth.
IMO, the biggest thing that's holding Linux back from making a big leap into the desktop realm is hardware support. You can have all the "Linux equivalent of Windows" apps you want, but if the average person can't get their hardware to work, it's gonna leave a bad taste in their mouth. You and I might not have problems sitting down for hours trying to nail the problem, but others certainly don't wanna do that crap, and I don't blame them.
A lot of the blame should be placed with the manufacturers for not releasing open source Linux drivers. In this day and age, this is absolutely no reason whatsoever for major players to hold back from releasing drivers for Linux. For example, anyone with a Linksys WPC11 v4 (wireless pcmcia) is screwed when it comes to Linux. That's bullshit and Linksys needs to wake up and smell the coffee and push out some drivers.
Unfortunately, a lot of these manufacturers are closed minded and feel that if they release a driver, they'll somehow, through the power of magic and mystic OSS voodoo, reveal the innermost workings and secrets of their company.
On the other hand, if you buy hardware that's known to work with Linux, it works like a charm! The problem is, if someone wants to taste what Linux is like, they don't wanna go out and buy all new hardware.
Has anyone actually sat down and thought about how pointless this is?
I don't understand why they'd care who watches TV or not, as if it's bad for you. This sounds like a bunch of old geezers who still believe that TV "rots your brain" sitting around a table trying to get people to listen to them.
It's entertainment, like anything else. What are the alternatives? Pick up a book and read it? Go out for a walk? What concern is it of theirs what I do in my spare time?
Why not have something more important and relevant, like Do Not Smoke Week or Do 10 Good Things for People Week.
No, not "good". This man isn't a threat to society and shouldn't be given jail time. After all, that's what jail is for: to correct those who are dangerous to society.
While it is against the law to record a movie like this, a punishment that would actually fit the crime should be a hefty fine, nothing more.
The fact of the matter is people will always pirate movies. Pirated movies put a VERY small dent in the amount profit they pull in.
And who is Jack Valenti to comment on this? His arguments against pirating are comments such as "70k-100k a year salaries aren't enough to live on," and, "People don't need to make backups of movies. If they or their kids happen to scratch it, they can buy another one. That's their back up."
Why would anyone want to team up with Real? Their player sucks, the format, which boasts crystal clear quality audio and vido, comes nothing close to something like Quicktime. If anything, they're the bottom rung of digital media companies. Why would the big wigs want to team up with someone so small and insignificant?
Do they even make a profit from anything OTHER than Ad revenue? Both Apple AND MS should give them a big, "Go away," so we can be done with them once and for all. They're struggling here.
Big deal, put the guy in jail. The Alamo has already been recorded and upload. Hell, the high quality screener has even been leaked.
Their attempts at stoping piracy are pretty lame, if you ask me.
Any time I read a story like this, it makes me want to download more movies than I already do. Any time I see one of those annoying anti-piracy commercials, "If you pirate movies, how am I supposed to buy $15 million dollar houses," I feel the same way. It's funny how they think this teaches people, but it only encourages them to do it more.
If it bothers you that much, don't buy MS products. Download them instead from warez newsgroups. It's fun sailing the seven seas as a pirate.
This isn't a troll or flamebait, either. The Govt does nothing about MS and how it continuously breaks the law. Why can MS get away with it and we can't? Because they're rich, that's why. Psssh... please. If our own Govt can't respect its own laws and is easily swayed by the green, then there's no reason why I should be expected to respect and obey laws.
A $600 card that requires a 480 watt power supply? Can you say "overkill"?
Something in that will have to be redesigned before people will consider buying it.
While some hardcore gamers wouldn't mind throwing that kinda cash at a vid card right now, most people won't. Of course, these cards are intended for general consumers once they get about a year old or in the $100-$299 price range, but the 480 watt power supply is like $20 extra per month on your electric bill if you're using it a lot!
That'll be quite a shocker when people figure out that their brand new video card is spiking their elec. bill.
People never learn. Once again, music industry is fucking the consumer in the ass and people are just grabbing their ankles with a shit eatin grin. With this price hike, you'll be paying MORE to download music as opposed to buying the CDs, which are overpriced to begin with.
They (the RIAA) don't understand, people don't WANT to pay that much for fucking music. If they're gonna pull this shit, then they shouldn't complain when people hit P2P in search of songs. So far, the alternatives fucking suck.
Someone remind me again... why should I buy music instead of just downloading it if THIS is what the alternative is coming to? No thanks. I'll stay on P2P/Usenet as the source of my music and gladly give the industry the finger as I snatch the music I want. They can play dirty, so can I.
People need to flat out stop buying music altogether, this is ridiuclous. If people keep caving in to this bullshit, then they'll just get more and more delusional in thinking that this type of stuff is okay.
Stupid execs. That's the answer to everything, right? Raise prices! They think they're doing everyone a favor by offering consumers the ability to download songs, but... really, $2+ a song when the avg cd has 12 songs would make album prices, voila! $24!
*chuckle* People need to stop buying music. Seriously.
It'll just take a few hours before a patch is released for something like that.
*Nothing* is invulnerable. Sony thought DNAS (Dynamic Network Authentication System that checks games prior to going online to see if they're copies and/or the system has been modded) was invulnerable, but that's been cracked.
These companies need to face it: you can spend all the money you want on trying to prevent people from copying games/modding their systems, but there is always, and will always be, a way around it. Along with that thought: not everyone will take part in the piracy/downloading.
If they don't make it crap targeted for children, it would work great. No PG-13 bullshit, either. All out R. It's not too much to ask, either, since the majority of Metroid fans are probably well above 18 (the original came out in.. what, '88 with Super Metroid being released in '94).
Reason being, Metroid is more like.. Starship Troopers or Aliens. It's not meant to be a walk in the park. I see it more like sci-fi horror than Indiana Jones in Space. The CGI done for the Metroids better be good too, and they NEED be terrifying or the movie will be crap. Same for Mother Brain. I expect to see a glass jar with tubes coming out of it hooked to some cyberorganic something and a gigantic fucking brain.. not some woman in a cape, cowboy boots, and labcoat.
I expect there to be abandoned space stations, laboratories with dimly lit hallways with Metroids floating up and down the corridor.
The way Hollywood sees it is quite different. Mother Brain *will* be a human, like how they fucked King Koopa up in Mario Bros. the movie. Why, Dennis, why? King Kooopa is NOT a human!! Goombas are not... whatever the hell they were in that movie. Humanoid lizards?!
Unless John Woo is a diehard Metroid fan and can prove me that he can find 100% of the items in ALL Metroid games, he needs to stay the hell away.
Slashdot Mirror
Basically the fact that actions of an entire University will be monitored by a private application from an organization/corporation in an attempt to stamp out piracy.
Let them get away with one thing, say network monitoring, and they'll start wanting more control. Pretty soon the RIAA will be installing applications on every University ISP trying to nail those students who download music.
They have better things to do than play Gestapo and coerce people into giving them money. That's all this is about. The street vendors in China that sell pirated movies are more of a direct threat to their profit than people who download over the internet. The fact is, everyone and their brother has the ability to download these movies, but do they? No. If they did, then movies like The Passion wouldn't have become $300 million + sellers, movies like the Matrix, or any other handful of movies released in the past year that went on to make 2-3x their budget.
Yeah, downloading movies (or actually, sharing movies) may be illegal, but let the law enforcement take care of this, not some private organization.
So many different apps use so many different ports, you couldn't possibly block all ports and expect to stop anon p2p without pissing off the majority of your OTHER users who DON'T use it (like online gamers, people who work from home, etc)
I wouldn't give in if I were you. Just reading that makes me want to go out and download more movies.
With every MPAA story like this, you get all kinds of sheep coming out of the woodwork stating things like, "Good, downloading movies is illegal and this is just!" without realizing a lot of your rights are going down the toilet simply because some cry baby organization/company is claiming "copyright infringment" even though it's been going on for YEARS, long before the internet ever made it popular.
These Universities need to tell them to piss off. They're just gonna get it even worse once anonymous P2P hits the masses.
ndiswrapper is a better alternative, plus it's free. Do those work on the WPC11? I know it works perfectly with my WMP11 (the wireless pci)
Some sound cards suck and are not supported by Linux...or the original manufactures that went out of business 10 years ago and took the specs with them
Linksys WPC11 v4. About a year old, doesn't work whatsoever with Linux. If you have this card and want to get it to work in Linux, your only option is to buy another one.
That's just flat out ridiculous. Linksys is probably the biggest name in home networking!! Granted, it's more their fault than Linux's.
It's quite unpopular to go against the grain on /. with an opinion like this, but it's the truth.
IMO, the biggest thing that's holding Linux back from making a big leap into the desktop realm is hardware support. You can have all the "Linux equivalent of Windows" apps you want, but if the average person can't get their hardware to work, it's gonna leave a bad taste in their mouth. You and I might not have problems sitting down for hours trying to nail the problem, but others certainly don't wanna do that crap, and I don't blame them.
A lot of the blame should be placed with the manufacturers for not releasing open source Linux drivers. In this day and age, this is absolutely no reason whatsoever for major players to hold back from releasing drivers for Linux. For example, anyone with a Linksys WPC11 v4 (wireless pcmcia) is screwed when it comes to Linux. That's bullshit and Linksys needs to wake up and smell the coffee and push out some drivers.
Unfortunately, a lot of these manufacturers are closed minded and feel that if they release a driver, they'll somehow, through the power of magic and mystic OSS voodoo, reveal the innermost workings and secrets of their company.
On the other hand, if you buy hardware that's known to work with Linux, it works like a charm! The problem is, if someone wants to taste what Linux is like, they don't wanna go out and buy all new hardware.
Hopefully someone will make the source open so ROMs could be converted & printed.
:P It'd kinda suck without a save feature, but it'd be cool nonetheless.
Imagine printing out and playing Zelda
Has anyone actually sat down and thought about how pointless this is?
I don't understand why they'd care who watches TV or not, as if it's bad for you. This sounds like a bunch of old geezers who still believe that TV "rots your brain" sitting around a table trying to get people to listen to them.
It's entertainment, like anything else. What are the alternatives? Pick up a book and read it? Go out for a walk? What concern is it of theirs what I do in my spare time?
Why not have something more important and relevant, like Do Not Smoke Week or Do 10 Good Things for People Week.
No, not "good". This man isn't a threat to society and shouldn't be given jail time. After all, that's what jail is for: to correct those who are dangerous to society.
While it is against the law to record a movie like this, a punishment that would actually fit the crime should be a hefty fine, nothing more.
The fact of the matter is people will always pirate movies. Pirated movies put a VERY small dent in the amount profit they pull in.
And who is Jack Valenti to comment on this? His arguments against pirating are comments such as "70k-100k a year salaries aren't enough to live on," and, "People don't need to make backups of movies. If they or their kids happen to scratch it, they can buy another one. That's their back up."
Why would anyone want to team up with Real? Their player sucks, the format, which boasts crystal clear quality audio and vido, comes nothing close to something like Quicktime. If anything, they're the bottom rung of digital media companies. Why would the big wigs want to team up with someone so small and insignificant?
Do they even make a profit from anything OTHER than Ad revenue? Both Apple AND MS should give them a big, "Go away," so we can be done with them once and for all. They're struggling here.
Big deal, put the guy in jail. The Alamo has already been recorded and upload. Hell, the high quality screener has even been leaked.
Their attempts at stoping piracy are pretty lame, if you ask me.
Any time I read a story like this, it makes me want to download more movies than I already do. Any time I see one of those annoying anti-piracy commercials, "If you pirate movies, how am I supposed to buy $15 million dollar houses," I feel the same way. It's funny how they think this teaches people, but it only encourages them to do it more.
Sure ya will, Cowboy. I haven't purchased an MS product in over 7 years and I intend to keep it that way.
Yeah, because murder and downloading software are the same *rolls eyes*
Mods are idiots. Just because my opinion doesn't follow suit with the norm, it's "flamebait".
If it bothers you that much, don't buy MS products. Download them instead from warez newsgroups. It's fun sailing the seven seas as a pirate.
This isn't a troll or flamebait, either. The Govt does nothing about MS and how it continuously breaks the law. Why can MS get away with it and we can't? Because they're rich, that's why. Psssh... please. If our own Govt can't respect its own laws and is easily swayed by the green, then there's no reason why I should be expected to respect and obey laws.
...and watch your body explode from the confusion.
Cells: "Here comes the water... wtf is this shit?". Boom.
A $600 card that requires a 480 watt power supply? Can you say "overkill"?
Something in that will have to be redesigned before people will consider buying it.
While some hardcore gamers wouldn't mind throwing that kinda cash at a vid card right now, most people won't. Of course, these cards are intended for general consumers once they get about a year old or in the $100-$299 price range, but the 480 watt power supply is like $20 extra per month on your electric bill if you're using it a lot!
That'll be quite a shocker when people figure out that their brand new video card is spiking their elec. bill.
People never learn. Once again, music industry is fucking the consumer in the ass and people are just grabbing their ankles with a shit eatin grin. With this price hike, you'll be paying MORE to download music as opposed to buying the CDs, which are overpriced to begin with.
They (the RIAA) don't understand, people don't WANT to pay that much for fucking music. If they're gonna pull this shit, then they shouldn't complain when people hit P2P in search of songs. So far, the alternatives fucking suck.
Someone remind me again... why should I buy music instead of just downloading it if THIS is what the alternative is coming to? No thanks. I'll stay on P2P/Usenet as the source of my music and gladly give the industry the finger as I snatch the music I want. They can play dirty, so can I.
People need to flat out stop buying music altogether, this is ridiuclous. If people keep caving in to this bullshit, then they'll just get more and more delusional in thinking that this type of stuff is okay.
It's hilarious how they're assuming their DRM will work... well, in order for it to work, people have ot use it. No one wants to use DRM!
Hehe, silly Microsoft trying to help the ??AA.
Stupid execs. That's the answer to everything, right? Raise prices! They think they're doing everyone a favor by offering consumers the ability to download songs, but... really, $2+ a song when the avg cd has 12 songs would make album prices, voila! $24!
*chuckle* People need to stop buying music. Seriously.
*goes back to downloading mp3s*
No kidding. Slashdot should automatically append the google partner arg when a nytimes article is submitted. Very annoying.
It'll just take a few hours before a patch is released for something like that.
*Nothing* is invulnerable. Sony thought DNAS (Dynamic Network Authentication System that checks games prior to going online to see if they're copies and/or the system has been modded) was invulnerable, but that's been cracked.
These companies need to face it: you can spend all the money you want on trying to prevent people from copying games/modding their systems, but there is always, and will always be, a way around it. Along with that thought: not everyone will take part in the piracy/downloading.
Unless John Woo is a diehard Metroid fan and can prove me that he can find 100% of the items in ALL Metroid games, he needs to stay the hell away.
And I mean ON HIS OWN, not with some sissy-ass strategy guide.
If they don't make it crap targeted for children, it would work great. No PG-13 bullshit, either. All out R. It's not too much to ask, either, since the majority of Metroid fans are probably well above 18 (the original came out in.. what, '88 with Super Metroid being released in '94).
... whatever the hell they were in that movie. Humanoid lizards?!
Reason being, Metroid is more like.. Starship Troopers or Aliens. It's not meant to be a walk in the park. I see it more like sci-fi horror than Indiana Jones in Space. The CGI done for the Metroids better be good too, and they NEED be terrifying or the movie will be crap. Same for Mother Brain. I expect to see a glass jar with tubes coming out of it hooked to some cyberorganic something and a gigantic fucking brain.. not some woman in a cape, cowboy boots, and labcoat.
I expect there to be abandoned space stations, laboratories with dimly lit hallways with Metroids floating up and down the corridor.
The way Hollywood sees it is quite different. Mother Brain *will* be a human, like how they fucked King Koopa up in Mario Bros. the movie. Why, Dennis, why? King Kooopa is NOT a human!! Goombas are not
Unless John Woo is a diehard Metroid fan and can prove me that he can find 100% of the items in ALL Metroid games, he needs to stay the hell away.
No, only people like you got all up in arms.
I don't own a tivo. The reason alone that they capture the info (whether it's used to identify you or not) makes me not want one. *shrug*