Kinda like mail-order businesses have done for decades? Or perhaps mail-order marketing via TV commercials? Oh yeah.. they've already got a mechanism for that. USE TAX. Can I help it if people ignore it? The State of Texas has a 4 BILLION dollar surplus (or something like that)... seems to me the sales tax loss isn't really hurting as much as they say... but never let facts get in the way of a good sob story.. look how well it's worked for the **AA's.
This is no different... just on a larger scale. Sales tax? Have at it. Taxing yet more internet access (we've got fees out the wazoo as it is...) is a whole other ball of crud that seems to get lumped in with this sort of thing in order to disguise it's yet another revenue grab.... If God can live on 10%.. so should the government.
You know, I thought the same as well... but after seeing a few Blu Ray and HD movies... I'm beginning to believe some of the hype. I do however, think that this generation is going to be saddled with two formats....
Until Purple Ray or Ray Charles comes out.... then it'll start all over again.
Unless one has an HD set, the new format is pointless..... and until we see more HD sets in the great unwashed's living rooms, this probably will be all academic.
I wasn't on board with the hype of "Planet Earth" myself... because eh... it was a bit disjoint.... good, but not great.
But you're right.... Blade Runner is my next purchase.:) I am ready to preorder!:D
There's really no compelling reason for most HD and Blu Ray movies to be on the format yet... the real eye candy (like the Matrix, PotC, and such) are the only ones that should be driving the system... not "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Bullitt" (which I gotta admit looks CRISP... like a new $5 bill)
I got my pack of Matrix (the "Ultimate" edition) for $77 with free shipping from deepdiscount.com
But indeed, the "Complete" collection... or wait... do I have the complete? No, the ultimate... Because the Complete is 4 discs, I think.. and has the Animatrix too.
Anyway... the collection most people are probably seeing in stores (not that I've looked) is the $100 one... compare that to the two Pirates movies (which can be had separately... not a bundle price needed...yet) and we see a possible reason for the disparity.
Of course HD-DVD aficionados were claiming that the Matrix was the release that would push HD-DVD "beyond" Blu Ray. Personally, I was thinking the one to do that was "smokey and the bandit".... but I was wrong.;)
I hope all Zune owners know that.... (as a non-zune owner, I didn't, obviously)...
But you have to wonder if that's really their final stab... or if, like playsforsure, the current crop of 1 million zune owners will be left out in the cold when Microsoft contracts another company to build them yet another player....
Talk about being out of touch.... they should really stick to ironing out the kinks in the 360 (QC issues) before they tackle Apple's turf... because they're getting beaten like they owe Apple money...
(Don't get me wrong... I like the 360... it's just got some longstanding issues that even the Elite has manifested...)
Having seen Natalie Portman in other films... I'm going to have to go with.... it was her. She can't act. She has the emotional range of a head trauma patient.
Lucas' insistence on casting relative unknowns for the leads bit him in the ass this time.... he got lucky with 60% of the actors in the original trilogy. (Mark Hamill was a whiner throughout that series...)
And Hayden wasn't exactly high-caliber talent either... his range of emotions went from stoic to whiny in 3 takes... His "best" work... his cathartic moment when he slaughtered the tusken raider camp... he turns it into a sketch from Dawson's Emo Creek. He blew the scene... a good actor would've really known what to do there... and unfortunately, Hayden ain't it.
This is sci-fi (lite)... so the dialogue is going to be corny, wooden, and really _really_ silly. There are people who can write good sci-fi that is also good literature, but they don't seem to work in films (or they're already dead...) For that matter, it seems that 90% of the film writers took a correspondence course. Either that, or their original vision was toasted by lame-oid producers who are looking for the next big hit.
*shrug* I can't tell. The original trilogy was out when I was 10.... I didn't have a firm grasp of the subtle character nuances that make great acting performances... so I can't really judge the work as it stood back then... today's trilogy had some convoluted moments... some lame Star Trek-esque moments... and some really crummy acting... but I liked them.:) I'm not so sure I'd have loved Star Wars as much if I hadn't been a kid when the first trilogy came out....
I thought the common carrier (for lack of a better term) was in effect long before the DMCA for things like the phone company, etc. The common carriers can't be held liable for misuse of its network, and so forth.... (under most circumstances...) Like if someone phones in a death threat to a radio station, the cops can't go after AT&T... which come to think of it, would be really hilarious.:)
Did the DMCA clarify that for the internet age? (I haven't read it in ages... so I forget...) Or did it just narrowly define "compliance" as a substitute for common carrier?
And the whack-a-mole would exist without the DMCA, simply because the internet isn't in one country... the content just moves to a "safer" locale and the copyright goons will have to start all over again...
That's not the point. The point is the NJTA is trying to bully the distribution of the video for rather thinly veiled reasons.
The morality of watching the video is not in question here... the illegality of the NJTA trying to stomp the video out using a copyright claim is the issue. (hasn't anyone learned that this NEVER works in the Internet Age? It only makes things more popular?)
the NJTA has no business invoking the DMCA for their cameras any more than Congress has invoking the DMCA to try and suppress the Congressional Record. It's TAX FUNDED camera equipment. It's a PUBLIC ROAD. The NJTA is _not_ a private entity. So, therefore... simple deduction garners one to only this conclusion: THE PEOPLE OWN THE COPYRIGHT.
The NJTA is patently wrong to even attempt this nonsense. It is yet another example of a bad law doing even more bad things in the wild without any legal precedent to strike said law right into the dirt. The DMCA is used to silence the minority, to prevent the truth from coming out, and to put a lid on the powerful's exploits. It is abused and overused... Thank you Bill Clinton. Your legacy is a suppression of the truth just like Shrub's is.
Because it's easier to illegally invoke the DMCA (god, why can't this law be struck down?) than to actually check to see if there's a mole or a "thief" inside the NJTA. (Rather than claim it's NJTA property, which by default is the people's property... since it is funded by taxes, they should've said it was for an ongoing investigation of a security leak.)
This is yet another example of the DMCA being improperly used by some corksoaking lawyer at the behest of another group trying to CYA for being stupid about security of their cameras... You're right... it's a diversionary tactic.
I wonder if a live feed of that camera's used anywhere? You know for TV traffic and that sort of thing?
His "winning" track record makes me wonder if he solely survives on the "tee-totalling front-row-pew nosy bastard/bitch" donation bucket.
He's a poor lawyer, an even poorer communicator (which is odd for a lawyer), and he's backing the wrong horse. He is, in effect, working FOR the game companies. Now _EVERY_ kid will crave this title for Chrimmus. Jack's guaranteed a million seller for Microsoft simply by opening his mouth and calling it "evil".
Pressure? My ass. The people and companies he's "going after" couldn't care less. Their answers have been simply "if you'll go away, we'll agree to it." Any sort of half-intelligent individual can see he's the internet age's equivalent of an ambulance chaser.
And he's a chickenbone away from spending eternity in hell with his pals.... I know, Satan told me himself.:)
No, I never inferred the business was running a charity. But charging to set up the computer and putting an illicit copy of windows on it is hard to untangle, and thus, my original point... they didn't profit from the Windows copy, but the computer itself.
The simple economics of it is this... Microsoft can't claim a loss on something they couldn't sell to begin with. That's the sticking point of copyright these days, and its something the IP holders and copyright conglomerates are working hard to criminalize... right now, at least in the US, it's still a civil matter.
Give them enough time and enough bought and paid for politicians, and it'll _all_ be criminal. Which is a crying shame and _not_ what the FF's were aiming for.
Whether or not these Indian shops are rooking the customers is another matter.
And for point 2. If they can install Windows, they can install Linux. It's not hard anymore. It hasn't been hard in years... and with the liveCDs and efficient hardware recognition, it's _easier_ than Windows. So that's not a valid excuse to simply go "windows" instead... (but that's a whole other subject...);)
They infringed on Microsoft's copyright. They did not profit from it.... nor did they make anything more than something a college student does for his pals. In order to maintain that there is damage (hence criminal infringement), these people have to be able to buy the software if said copy-service wasn't in place. Since the average person over there can't call ma (like the college students) to get the money for the copy, how is this a loss for Microsoft? If there wasn't a copy-service set up to put windows on their computers, there would not be any sales of Windows... period. The only thing Microsoft is doing here is preventing market penetration by not allowing what they allowed here in the dim past of their existence. Publicly decrying software "piracy", but allowing the crack to take hold and cement the brand for future revenue... If they feel the need to squeeze blood from a turnip, have at it.
And before you split hairs, I'm not talking morality here. I'm talking the definition of damages received from the copying of their software.... hence the "damages" received from someone trying to copy their OS. If these losses are so prevalent, and so concrete... write them off on their taxes. See if the IRS believes your figure. They CAN'T because it's _speculation_... or as I like to call it... a WILD ASSED GUESS about how much they _perceived_ in losses due to someone not going to the store to get their copy of Windows. Whether or not that person would do so _at all_ if there wasn't an alternative never factors into the equation. (which brought me to the first point...)
How do you know these computers aren't $50 hunks of leftovers dumped by corporations when they updated their secretarial pool to new quad xenon ultra specials? Simply owning a PC does not automatically give them the purchasing power to go out and get Windows... We don't generally know the entire story.
And lo, for $5, you can get a professionally duplicated copy of Windows and Office in stores all over Eastern Europe and China. Is Microsoft afraid to get involved with the organized crime behind these copies? I think so... So they beat up _symbols_ of "piracy" like these shops in India and try to garner press for their actions and sympathy for their "losses." They're losing the PR war to Linux, and yet when people in India who cannot afford to buy their OS (even at their "adjusted" prices) yet desire to run their software do this, Microsoft gets their knickers in a twist and closes the door on yet another market... giving something else position to take away their position.
Way to go, MS. I applaud you. Show those Indian bastards by pulling all your call centers and support lines out of the country until they can clean up their act. That'll show them the consequences of infringing on _your_ IP, by god....waiting to see the call centers close up....
Now, if they'd only ban the 12-year-old retards with their 8-word vocabulary... two of which are variants of "fag".
Yes, I know there's a way to mute them/rate them poorly.. but that never stops the constant influx of _new_ morons... It's as if the world has an infinite supply of people who feel invincible behind a TV screen.
Re:Played my first arcade game in 1972
on
Videogames Turn 40
·
· Score: 1
My first exposure to a video game (not necessarily a console) was some un-named dungeon crawler for the TRS-80 Model 1. It was in 1980 or 1979, iirc. I was at a friend's house and his dad had a Model 1 setup next to the TV... complete with cassette drive and all the fixin's (at the time...) There was a little 4x6 card in the envelope that held the cassette tape of the game, and it listed all the commands and keystrokes. It reminds me now that I think about it, of Nethack. Once I played a few turns of the game and died attacking some un-named monster, I was hooked. I wanted a computer.:) As with all things, my attention span (and my friend's dad) kept me from playing the game until suppertime.:)
My first video game console was my uncle's used 2600 when he decided that he wanted an Intellivision.:) Combat against your friends was a blast. After the 2600 faded, I didn't return to purchasing video game consoles until The Playstation came out.:) Computers were more fun...;)
I miss the days when all this was new... and you had to be especially dedicated to the hobby to get the most out of it... I absolutely love the hobby to this day... I can't say the same of most of my other hobbies I picked up over the years...
You know... that seems evil enough for Disney to pull off... but I dunno, I wonder if their PR wouldn't take a nasty hit in the short term...
Of course, when they backed Divx (the evil one), it didn't work out quite as well as they'd have hoped... people just didn't buy their tripe... (I would suspect Disney selling the same movies...and more... over in Europe and Japan on DVD with more features had something to do with it....)
I'm sure we're going to see more waffling as the formats ebb and flow towards their simultaneous adoption (or death, whichever comes first...) I could be wrong... and Blu-Ray might trump HD-DVD... Until the big-name titles get out (like the Matrix Trilogy, which is coming out this summer, I believe on HD-DVD, with a blu-ray release later), we're going to see little movement in the adoption rate... I really think Sony stacked the deck with the inclusion of a blu-ray drive in their game console... I for one welcome the extra storage (C'mon... swapping DVDs in a game? yeesh!) but MS's insistence on making the HD drive an add-on might not get the critical mass out there... at least not until the HD-DVD players hit $100.
I mean, c'mon... does anyone _REALLY_ need an HD version of "Jay & Silent Bob Strike back"? What could POSSIBLY be missing from the original theatrical and DVD release that you _NEED_ to see at 1080p? Or "Blazing Saddles".... that was another odd one.:)
Right now it's "early adopter drek and shovelware" it seems... but hey... you can always watch the theatrical version of "Ultraviolet" in 1080p (in spite of the director's unrated cut on DVD)... The only redeeming quality to that movie ("Equilibrium" was MUCH better... same guy, no less) was Milla's perfect ass as she walked nekkid through some weird corridor thing...
I guess Disney wants to stack the deck in favor of their "preferred" format. (Not wanting to back a losing horse, so to speak... as they've done in the past...) I really don't care if Disney puts their drek on edible undie flavored discs... Disney is a non-starter in my book. I truthfully don't buy enough movies for them to care what I think, and I've pretty much grown ever-so-tired of the "sticky floor/bratty snot/laser pointer/cell ringers" atmosphere theaters have wrought. So, in the grand scheme of things... I'd much rather have the next-format data burner settled in a reasonable time frame...:)
In the realm of movies, I think we're going to see a dual-format for quite some time... no one's giving a nod to either one (besides the press-release chest-thumping) and porn (despite their power earlier on) is more of a paper-tiger in this fight... Everyone knows, the _internet_ is for porn anyway.:-)
Still, it's probably worth noting (as others have posted) that Apple's a big backer of Blu-Ray.. I don't bloody well care, because it'll be a few years before we can get 80GB backup discs, at least at a reasonable price... And by then, my system disk will have grown too large (yet again) for a "single disk" backup.;)
Speaking of Complicity... why isn't Yahoo Music, Napster, oh lessee... eMusic, and the other sites that sell plain mp3's not mentioned in the suit?
Oh that's right... This is just a fucking cash grab.
May the people behind this lawsuit, and all those at the company who makes the DRM software, die in a fire. Better yet, let them die in a fire while on the crapper because they ate some bad shellfish or Thai food... that way, there will be a row of assholes burned to a crisp sitting side by side on charred toilets.:) Screw karma... these people need to be stopped.:D
That's what really needs to get out. Republican and Democrat don't mean anything anymore. They sit on either side of "scary" issues like terrorism and abortion, but in the end, they're all in the SAME party. For lack of a better term, it's the "lawyer-green party"... full of money-grubbing bastards and bitches who get elected for the sole reason to see how much money they can amass for themselves more money, more power, and more dead bodies to make thrones from.
When people wake up to realize this and realize that just because the Dems are in control right now doesn't mean a hill of ape snot.
I'm surprised Boucher is co-sponsoring this. Everyone's officially a slimy cocksucking pig in the government. Fuck 'em all with a big, rubber dick.
Well, Fight Night Round 3 is considered better on the PS3 than the 360... I would have to say that in ports, sometimes they don't get it right...
We'll see how VF5 looks on the 360 when it finishes being ported.;)
(would rather see no winner than Microsoft stealing another market and plunging it into oblivion like they did with desktop PCs)...
competition's always good... I have both, and I like both for different reasons... I am not interested in specs because specs don't make fun games.. (easily the most powerful last-gen console had some of the WORST games... the XBox)...
The first format to get to the $99 player will win. Not a moment before.:)
I think when people have gotten used to paying $39 for a DVD player, they're not about to spend $250 for the "promise" of HD quality, when they still need a $700 TV to take advantage of it. It's not as easy as going from VHS to DVD (where on existing TVs you could see the difference...)
By "people" I mean Joe Sixpack and the rest of the "great unwashed", who most likely will want their HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to have better "wrasslin" footage... Until they make a decision, it's just an academic exercise among the early adopters and technophiles...
They were easy to find in mid-January. And no, there were 4 there at the local Target when I bought mine... but only 1 60GB. I've known several people online who had one, and often the reason is clear: 60GB had features that weren't compelling enough for the extra $.
In fact, most places I went in mid to late January (early Feb too) had either an equal part 60GB/20GB ratio, or had one less 20 or at the most 2. I guess it was coincidence... Now of course, everywhere I go is all 60GB... so the supplies of the 20GB I saw earlier this year have all but dried up... (which I assume to be their plan...)
Not to nitpick, but you don't have to use HDMI cables to get more than 480p. Component works fine. Except of course in the case of the 360, where to get 1080p on their HD-DVD add-on and to upscale standard dvd's, you have to use their VGA cable. My samsung upscaling DVD player works over HDMI or component... and can go to "1080i" (big deal, I know...)
since my TV is 720p/1080i, I do fine with component... even upscaling my old standard DVDs... (some of which look absolutely horrible......) And since the consortium of DRM fanatics have not chosen to implement HDCP, there's no real restriction over component (yet.) So, I use my PS3 over component (20GB... I'm not greedy)... and it plays Blu-Ray DVD's fine.. look great too. Although there's not much in the way of selection... considering I'm not buying any HD DVD/Blu Ray or whatever movie that I already have on DVD... there's just no point, at least for me. I bought CD's to replace my vinyl and cassettes. That's the last time I will ever re-buy something because of a format change. They got their 1 trip.;) Too bad the MPAA missed it. Hell, I didn't even replace any of my VHS movies until they wore out or were lost to unscrupulous college buddies.:P Once my VCR finally dies, I guess I might think about replacing a few of my favorites to DVD... or to whatever's on the bubble by then... *shrug*
But the problem I think Sony has (besides being 100% asshole, just like Microsoft... how soon we forget) is their perception of how the game market is headed. The Wii is a perfect example of Sony (and dare I say Microsoft) "not getting it." I think their embracing of the "HD" Next-gen moniker and hype associated with it is entirely too premature (for both Sony and MS).... and this generation isn't about HD... which is why Sony's losing ground. If it truly were about HD, I think Sony would be in a better position because of their built-in Blu-Ray and B.C. that isn't totally borked. However, since Sony _is_ selling PS3's, the only real barometer as to the success of failure of "next-gen 1.0" will be when the PS4 and XBox720 come out...
Then we'll really see how much suck one company can withstand before throwing in the towel.:)
I don't (and certainly hope anyone else doesn't) get their science from a movie about a computer simulation running the world... based loosely off the messiah story.... fun movie, though it was...
The answer to the classification of the human race as a virus was rather clever, though. We, unlike all other species, do not enter an area and strike a balance with the environment... we change it, use it up, and move on to the next area... behaviorally, that's a virus.;)
I'm glad I'm not a virus... I'd rather replicate the species the human way!:P
That's why Agent Smith was right... we're a virus.;-)
But seriously folks... the large brain and other niceties we've been stuck with since we evolved from whatever (apes, dolphins... whoever you believe)... renders moot the need to adapt. We just alter our environment, or adapt in artificial ways like clothing, strip malls, and Starbucks...
You're completely right... when we control our environment nearly completely, why should genes mutate to make us more adaptable? I think we broke evolution.;)
Or nature will rebel and send us back to the ooze in favor of less "brainy" species.;) Either way, hold on to your marbles... it's gonna be a fun ride..;)
Or God will smite us all... depends on how you believe we got here, I suppose.:)
I currently use the raised "ribbed" nub... (insert phallic joke here..) and it improved my control on Super GnG 100-fold. The 2nd set of platform lava jumps was kicking my arse until I got the new nub... now I'm moving on and running like I stole something...;)
It's something to consider. (I actually like the PSP... I didn't initially...) But I use it to play games... and watch ripped movies... not bothering with the "yet another movie format" of UMD. It's got some great titles... and it's got such a pretty screen for a handheld.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Kinda like mail-order businesses have done for decades? Or perhaps mail-order marketing via TV commercials? Oh yeah.. they've already got a mechanism for that. USE TAX. Can I help it if people ignore it? The State of Texas has a 4 BILLION dollar surplus (or something like that)... seems to me the sales tax loss isn't really hurting as much as they say... but never let facts get in the way of a good sob story.. look how well it's worked for the **AA's.
This is no different... just on a larger scale. Sales tax? Have at it. Taxing yet more internet access (we've got fees out the wazoo as it is...) is a whole other ball of crud that seems to get lumped in with this sort of thing in order to disguise it's yet another revenue grab.... If God can live on 10%.. so should the government.
You know, I thought the same as well... but after seeing a few Blu Ray and HD movies... I'm beginning to believe some of the hype. I do however, think that this generation is going to be saddled with two formats....
Until Purple Ray or Ray Charles comes out.... then it'll start all over again.
Unless one has an HD set, the new format is pointless..... and until we see more HD sets in the great unwashed's living rooms, this probably will be all academic.
I wasn't on board with the hype of "Planet Earth" myself... because eh... it was a bit disjoint.... good, but not great.
:) I am ready to preorder! :D
But you're right.... Blade Runner is my next purchase.
There's really no compelling reason for most HD and Blu Ray movies to be on the format yet... the real eye candy (like the Matrix, PotC, and such) are the only ones that should be driving the system... not "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Bullitt" (which I gotta admit looks CRISP... like a new $5 bill)
I got my pack of Matrix (the "Ultimate" edition) for $77 with free shipping from deepdiscount.com
;)
But indeed, the "Complete" collection... or wait... do I have the complete? No, the ultimate... Because the Complete is 4 discs, I think.. and has the Animatrix too.
Anyway... the collection most people are probably seeing in stores (not that I've looked) is the $100 one... compare that to the two Pirates movies (which can be had separately... not a bundle price needed...yet) and we see a possible reason for the disparity.
Of course HD-DVD aficionados were claiming that the Matrix was the release that would push HD-DVD "beyond" Blu Ray. Personally, I was thinking the one to do that was "smokey and the bandit".... but I was wrong.
I hope all Zune owners know that.... (as a non-zune owner, I didn't, obviously)...
But you have to wonder if that's really their final stab... or if, like playsforsure, the current crop of 1 million zune owners will be left out in the cold when Microsoft contracts another company to build them yet another player....
Talk about being out of touch.... they should really stick to ironing out the kinks in the 360 (QC issues) before they tackle Apple's turf... because they're getting beaten like they owe Apple money...
(Don't get me wrong... I like the 360... it's just got some longstanding issues that even the Elite has manifested...)
Having seen Natalie Portman in other films... I'm going to have to go with.... it was her. She can't act. She has the emotional range of a head trauma patient.
:) I'm not so sure I'd have loved Star Wars as much if I hadn't been a kid when the first trilogy came out....
:)
Lucas' insistence on casting relative unknowns for the leads bit him in the ass this time.... he got lucky with 60% of the actors in the original trilogy. (Mark Hamill was a whiner throughout that series...)
And Hayden wasn't exactly high-caliber talent either... his range of emotions went from stoic to whiny in 3 takes... His "best" work... his cathartic moment when he slaughtered the tusken raider camp... he turns it into a sketch from Dawson's Emo Creek. He blew the scene... a good actor would've really known what to do there... and unfortunately, Hayden ain't it.
This is sci-fi (lite)... so the dialogue is going to be corny, wooden, and really _really_ silly. There are people who can write good sci-fi that is also good literature, but they don't seem to work in films (or they're already dead...) For that matter, it seems that 90% of the film writers took a correspondence course. Either that, or their original vision was toasted by lame-oid producers who are looking for the next big hit.
*shrug* I can't tell. The original trilogy was out when I was 10.... I didn't have a firm grasp of the subtle character nuances that make great acting performances... so I can't really judge the work as it stood back then... today's trilogy had some convoluted moments... some lame Star Trek-esque moments... and some really crummy acting... but I liked them.
But, as always, YMMV.
I thought the common carrier (for lack of a better term) was in effect long before the DMCA for things like the phone company, etc. The common carriers can't be held liable for misuse of its network, and so forth.... (under most circumstances...) Like if someone phones in a death threat to a radio station, the cops can't go after AT&T... which come to think of it, would be really hilarious. :)
Did the DMCA clarify that for the internet age? (I haven't read it in ages... so I forget...) Or did it just narrowly define "compliance" as a substitute for common carrier?
And the whack-a-mole would exist without the DMCA, simply because the internet isn't in one country... the content just moves to a "safer" locale and the copyright goons will have to start all over again...
Why they even bother is the amusing part.
That's not the point. The point is the NJTA is trying to bully the distribution of the video for rather thinly veiled reasons.
The morality of watching the video is not in question here... the illegality of the NJTA trying to stomp the video out using a copyright claim is the issue. (hasn't anyone learned that this NEVER works in the Internet Age? It only makes things more popular?)
the NJTA has no business invoking the DMCA for their cameras any more than Congress has invoking the DMCA to try and suppress the Congressional Record. It's TAX FUNDED camera equipment. It's a PUBLIC ROAD. The NJTA is _not_ a private entity. So, therefore... simple deduction garners one to only this conclusion: THE PEOPLE OWN THE COPYRIGHT.
The NJTA is patently wrong to even attempt this nonsense. It is yet another example of a bad law doing even more bad things in the wild without any legal precedent to strike said law right into the dirt. The DMCA is used to silence the minority, to prevent the truth from coming out, and to put a lid on the powerful's exploits. It is abused and overused... Thank you Bill Clinton. Your legacy is a suppression of the truth just like Shrub's is.
Because it's easier to illegally invoke the DMCA (god, why can't this law be struck down?) than to actually check to see if there's a mole or a "thief" inside the NJTA. (Rather than claim it's NJTA property, which by default is the people's property... since it is funded by taxes, they should've said it was for an ongoing investigation of a security leak.)
This is yet another example of the DMCA being improperly used by some corksoaking lawyer at the behest of another group trying to CYA for being stupid about security of their cameras... You're right... it's a diversionary tactic.
I wonder if a live feed of that camera's used anywhere? You know for TV traffic and that sort of thing?
His "winning" track record makes me wonder if he solely survives on the "tee-totalling front-row-pew nosy bastard/bitch" donation bucket.
:)
He's a poor lawyer, an even poorer communicator (which is odd for a lawyer), and he's backing the wrong horse. He is, in effect, working FOR the game companies. Now _EVERY_ kid will crave this title for Chrimmus. Jack's guaranteed a million seller for Microsoft simply by opening his mouth and calling it "evil".
Pressure? My ass. The people and companies he's "going after" couldn't care less. Their answers have been simply "if you'll go away, we'll agree to it." Any sort of half-intelligent individual can see he's the internet age's equivalent of an ambulance chaser.
And he's a chickenbone away from spending eternity in hell with his pals.... I know, Satan told me himself.
No, I never inferred the business was running a charity. But charging to set up the computer and putting an illicit copy of windows on it is hard to untangle, and thus, my original point... they didn't profit from the Windows copy, but the computer itself.
;)
The simple economics of it is this... Microsoft can't claim a loss on something they couldn't sell to begin with. That's the sticking point of copyright these days, and its something the IP holders and copyright conglomerates are working hard to criminalize... right now, at least in the US, it's still a civil matter.
Give them enough time and enough bought and paid for politicians, and it'll _all_ be criminal. Which is a crying shame and _not_ what the FF's were aiming for.
Whether or not these Indian shops are rooking the customers is another matter.
And for point 2. If they can install Windows, they can install Linux. It's not hard anymore. It hasn't been hard in years... and with the liveCDs and efficient hardware recognition, it's _easier_ than Windows. So that's not a valid excuse to simply go "windows" instead... (but that's a whole other subject...)
They infringed on Microsoft's copyright. They did not profit from it.... nor did they make anything more than something a college student does for his pals.
...waiting to see the call centers close up....
In order to maintain that there is damage (hence criminal infringement), these people have to be able to buy the software if said copy-service wasn't in place.
Since the average person over there can't call ma (like the college students) to get the money for the copy, how is this a loss for Microsoft? If there wasn't a copy-service set up to put windows on their computers, there would not be any sales of Windows... period. The only thing Microsoft is doing here is preventing market penetration by not allowing what they allowed here in the dim past of their existence. Publicly decrying software "piracy", but allowing the crack to take hold and cement the brand for future revenue... If they feel the need to squeeze blood from a turnip, have at it.
And before you split hairs, I'm not talking morality here. I'm talking the definition of damages received from the copying of their software.... hence the "damages" received from someone trying to copy their OS. If these losses are so prevalent, and so concrete... write them off on their taxes. See if the IRS believes your figure. They CAN'T because it's _speculation_... or as I like to call it... a WILD ASSED GUESS about how much they _perceived_ in losses due to someone not going to the store to get their copy of Windows. Whether or not that person would do so _at all_ if there wasn't an alternative never factors into the equation. (which brought me to the first point...)
How do you know these computers aren't $50 hunks of leftovers dumped by corporations when they updated their secretarial pool to new quad xenon ultra specials?
Simply owning a PC does not automatically give them the purchasing power to go out and get Windows... We don't generally know the entire story.
And lo, for $5, you can get a professionally duplicated copy of Windows and Office in stores all over Eastern Europe and China. Is Microsoft afraid to get involved with the organized crime behind these copies? I think so... So they beat up _symbols_ of "piracy" like these shops in India and try to garner press for their actions and sympathy for their "losses." They're losing the PR war to Linux, and yet when people in India who cannot afford to buy their OS (even at their "adjusted" prices) yet desire to run their software do this, Microsoft gets their knickers in a twist and closes the door on yet another market... giving something else position to take away their position.
Way to go, MS. I applaud you. Show those Indian bastards by pulling all your call centers and support lines out of the country until they can clean up their act. That'll show them the consequences of infringing on _your_ IP, by god.
Now, if they'd only ban the 12-year-old retards with their 8-word vocabulary... two of which are variants of "fag".
Yes, I know there's a way to mute them/rate them poorly.. but that never stops the constant influx of _new_ morons... It's as if the world has an infinite supply of people who feel invincible behind a TV screen.
My first exposure to a video game (not necessarily a console) was some un-named dungeon crawler for the TRS-80 Model 1. It was in 1980 or 1979, iirc. I was at a friend's house and his dad had a Model 1 setup next to the TV... complete with cassette drive and all the fixin's (at the time...) There was a little 4x6 card in the envelope that held the cassette tape of the game, and it listed all the commands and keystrokes. It reminds me now that I think about it, of Nethack. Once I played a few turns of the game and died attacking some un-named monster, I was hooked. I wanted a computer. :) As with all things, my attention span (and my friend's dad) kept me from playing the game until suppertime. :)
:) Combat against your friends was a blast. After the 2600 faded, I didn't return to purchasing video game consoles until The Playstation came out. :) Computers were more fun... ;)
My first video game console was my uncle's used 2600 when he decided that he wanted an Intellivision.
I miss the days when all this was new... and you had to be especially dedicated to the hobby to get the most out of it... I absolutely love the hobby to this day... I can't say the same of most of my other hobbies I picked up over the years...
You know... that seems evil enough for Disney to pull off... but I dunno, I wonder if their PR wouldn't take a nasty hit in the short term...
...and more... over in Europe and Japan on DVD with more features had something to do with it....)
:)
;)
Of course, when they backed Divx (the evil one), it didn't work out quite as well as they'd have hoped... people just didn't buy their tripe... (I would suspect Disney selling the same movies
I'm sure we're going to see more waffling as the formats ebb and flow towards their simultaneous adoption (or death, whichever comes first...) I could be wrong... and Blu-Ray might trump HD-DVD... Until the big-name titles get out (like the Matrix Trilogy, which is coming out this summer, I believe on HD-DVD, with a blu-ray release later), we're going to see little movement in the adoption rate... I really think Sony stacked the deck with the inclusion of a blu-ray drive in their game console... I for one welcome the extra storage (C'mon... swapping DVDs in a game? yeesh!) but MS's insistence on making the HD drive an add-on might not get the critical mass out there... at least not until the HD-DVD players hit $100.
I mean, c'mon... does anyone _REALLY_ need an HD version of "Jay & Silent Bob Strike back"? What could POSSIBLY be missing from the original theatrical and DVD release that you _NEED_ to see at 1080p? Or "Blazing Saddles".... that was another odd one.
Right now it's "early adopter drek and shovelware" it seems... but hey... you can always watch the theatrical version of "Ultraviolet" in 1080p (in spite of the director's unrated cut on DVD)... The only redeeming quality to that movie ("Equilibrium" was MUCH better... same guy, no less) was Milla's perfect ass as she walked nekkid through some weird corridor thing...
But I digress.
I guess Disney wants to stack the deck in favor of their "preferred" format. (Not wanting to back a losing horse, so to speak... as they've done in the past...) I really don't care if Disney puts their drek on edible undie flavored discs... Disney is a non-starter in my book. I truthfully don't buy enough movies for them to care what I think, and I've pretty much grown ever-so-tired of the "sticky floor/bratty snot/laser pointer/cell ringers" atmosphere theaters have wrought. So, in the grand scheme of things... I'd much rather have the next-format data burner settled in a reasonable time frame... :)
:-)
;)
:P
In the realm of movies, I think we're going to see a dual-format for quite some time... no one's giving a nod to either one (besides the press-release chest-thumping) and porn (despite their power earlier on) is more of a paper-tiger in this fight... Everyone knows, the _internet_ is for porn anyway.
Still, it's probably worth noting (as others have posted) that Apple's a big backer of Blu-Ray.. I don't bloody well care, because it'll be a few years before we can get 80GB backup discs, at least at a reasonable price... And by then, my system disk will have grown too large (yet again) for a "single disk" backup.
Yeah, I'm a digital packrat...
Speaking of Complicity... why isn't Yahoo Music, Napster, oh lessee... eMusic, and the other sites that sell plain mp3's not mentioned in the suit?
:) Screw karma... these people need to be stopped. :D
Oh that's right... This is just a fucking cash grab.
May the people behind this lawsuit, and all those at the company who makes the DRM software, die in a fire. Better yet, let them die in a fire while on the crapper because they ate some bad shellfish or Thai food... that way, there will be a row of assholes burned to a crisp sitting side by side on charred toilets.
That's what really needs to get out. Republican and Democrat don't mean anything anymore. They sit on either side of "scary" issues like terrorism and abortion, but in the end, they're all in the SAME party. For lack of a better term, it's the "lawyer-green party"... full of money-grubbing bastards and bitches who get elected for the sole reason to see how much money they can amass for themselves more money, more power, and more dead bodies to make thrones from.
When people wake up to realize this and realize that just because the Dems are in control right now doesn't mean a hill of ape snot.
I'm surprised Boucher is co-sponsoring this. Everyone's officially a slimy cocksucking pig in the government. Fuck 'em all with a big, rubber dick.
Well, Fight Night Round 3 is considered better on the PS3 than the 360... I would have to say that in ports, sometimes they don't get it right...
;)
:)
We'll see how VF5 looks on the 360 when it finishes being ported.
(would rather see no winner than Microsoft stealing another market and plunging it into oblivion like they did with desktop PCs)...
competition's always good... I have both, and I like both for different reasons... I am not interested in specs because specs don't make fun games.. (easily the most powerful last-gen console had some of the WORST games... the XBox)...
The first format to get to the $99 player will win. Not a moment before.
I think when people have gotten used to paying $39 for a DVD player, they're not about to spend $250 for the "promise" of HD quality, when they still need a $700 TV to take advantage of it. It's not as easy as going from VHS to DVD (where on existing TVs you could see the difference...)
By "people" I mean Joe Sixpack and the rest of the "great unwashed", who most likely will want their HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to have better "wrasslin" footage... Until they make a decision, it's just an academic exercise among the early adopters and technophiles...
They were easy to find in mid-January. And no, there were 4 there at the local Target when I bought mine... but only 1 60GB. I've known several people online who had one, and often the reason is clear: 60GB had features that weren't compelling enough for the extra $.
In fact, most places I went in mid to late January (early Feb too) had either an equal part 60GB/20GB ratio, or had one less 20 or at the most 2. I guess it was coincidence... Now of course, everywhere I go is all 60GB... so the supplies of the 20GB I saw earlier this year have all but dried up... (which I assume to be their plan...)
Stop taking objection. It's a joke. If people can't get that, I don't really care, nor can I do anything about it.
I'm glad you're a cheerleader for our species, but for God's sake, lighten up.
Not to nitpick, but you don't have to use HDMI cables to get more than 480p. Component works fine. Except of course in the case of the 360, where to get 1080p on their HD-DVD add-on and to upscale standard dvd's, you have to use their VGA cable. My samsung upscaling DVD player works over HDMI or component... and can go to "1080i" (big deal, I know...)
;) Too bad the MPAA missed it. Hell, I didn't even replace any of my VHS movies until they wore out or were lost to unscrupulous college buddies. :P Once my VCR finally dies, I guess I might think about replacing a few of my favorites to DVD... or to whatever's on the bubble by then... *shrug*
:)
since my TV is 720p/1080i, I do fine with component... even upscaling my old standard DVDs... (some of which look absolutely horrible......) And since the consortium of DRM fanatics have not chosen to implement HDCP, there's no real restriction over component (yet.) So, I use my PS3 over component (20GB... I'm not greedy)... and it plays Blu-Ray DVD's fine.. look great too. Although there's not much in the way of selection... considering I'm not buying any HD DVD/Blu Ray or whatever movie that I already have on DVD... there's just no point, at least for me. I bought CD's to replace my vinyl and cassettes. That's the last time I will ever re-buy something because of a format change. They got their 1 trip.
But the problem I think Sony has (besides being 100% asshole, just like Microsoft... how soon we forget) is their perception of how the game market is headed. The Wii is a perfect example of Sony (and dare I say Microsoft) "not getting it." I think their embracing of the "HD" Next-gen moniker and hype associated with it is entirely too premature (for both Sony and MS).... and this generation isn't about HD... which is why Sony's losing ground. If it truly were about HD, I think Sony would be in a better position because of their built-in Blu-Ray and B.C. that isn't totally borked. However, since Sony _is_ selling PS3's, the only real barometer as to the success of failure of "next-gen 1.0" will be when the PS4 and XBox720 come out...
Then we'll really see how much suck one company can withstand before throwing in the towel.
I was quoting "The Matrix"...
;)
:P
I don't (and certainly hope anyone else doesn't) get their science from a movie about a computer simulation running the world... based loosely off the messiah story.... fun movie, though it was...
The answer to the classification of the human race as a virus was rather clever, though. We, unlike all other species, do not enter an area and strike a balance with the environment... we change it, use it up, and move on to the next area... behaviorally, that's a virus.
I'm glad I'm not a virus... I'd rather replicate the species the human way!
That's why Agent Smith was right... we're a virus. ;-)
;)
;) Either way, hold on to your marbles... it's gonna be a fun ride.. ;)
:)
But seriously folks... the large brain and other niceties we've been stuck with since we evolved from whatever (apes, dolphins... whoever you believe)... renders moot the need to adapt. We just alter our environment, or adapt in artificial ways like clothing, strip malls, and Starbucks...
You're completely right... when we control our environment nearly completely, why should genes mutate to make us more adaptable? I think we broke evolution.
Or nature will rebel and send us back to the ooze in favor of less "brainy" species.
Or God will smite us all... depends on how you believe we got here, I suppose.
I have found a way to mitigate the problem of the nub, but it costs $3.99 from Play Asia (there's a better pack of "nubs" than what Gamestop sells.)
g ii.html
;)
:)
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-bh-49-en-70-1
I currently use the raised "ribbed" nub... (insert phallic joke here..) and it improved my control on Super GnG 100-fold. The 2nd set of platform lava jumps was kicking my arse until I got the new nub... now I'm moving on and running like I stole something...
It's something to consider. (I actually like the PSP... I didn't initially...) But I use it to play games... and watch ripped movies... not bothering with the "yet another movie format" of UMD. It's got some great titles... and it's got such a pretty screen for a handheld.