It's just easier to reproduce on the Mac. It is the same bug, yet it is more difficult to do in Windows than OS X. The windows bug can be done by the user too... albeit with a few more steps, it seems. It's not like you have to re-solder the posts to the RAM and short-circuit some BIOS pin to get this to happen. Admittedly, fewer people will want to muck with it, but those people are less likely to have 3GB of RAM (or need it for that matter). (On either system.)
(I don't know if that's reinforcement, but it sure sounds funny when you read it, eh?)
So the junk they make really peeves you, eh?:) I feel the same way about Windows.:P All talk and no action.....;)
I'm not saying Macs are better or worse than other computers (but of the 3 Macs I have, they behave better than most I've owned (YMMV).... not all of them run OS X... I have Linux on a G4), but considering the track record of Macs (compared to the bugs that you see reported) are pretty good, the mere "hypnosis of marketing" seems like a far-fetched proposition. I do not endorse any computer when asked, simply because people who ask me are simply looking for a quick answer to avoid doing their own homework on which computer they should get for their needs. A great majority of people could get by with a good pen and paper (and a calculator...). Computers have been marketed as a "must have", but those who believe that are among those who really need a simpler solution.
There are probably people who believe exactly as you do. Trouble is, like those who blindly believe the Mac is perfect, they have no factual basis for the assertion.
Re:Attempt to Get Death Penalty for Zacarias Mouss
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Oh, I agree too. I live in Texas as well. I am not a native Texan, and haven't lived here for very long, but I am not a fan of the death penalty... however, I see the underpinnings of it working, and really want it reformed rather than outright abolished... (if there is no way to fix it, then abolish it.. but we've not given enough time or energy to fixing the process before we toss it out completely.) There is no need for an "express lane" (like Ron White once said...), and appeals though costly should be transparent and involve things more than small technicalities and procedural violations (unless those things hampered the jury's ability to render a verdict). I do not have a moral objection to the death penalty, with the exception that in terms of it being used, it should show no cultural, socioeconomic or racial bias. I do have a problem with it being used as a means to keep the "mob happy", or to keep the wool pulled over the public's collective eyes. The system is broken, and it should be fixed... adding a swifter death row process doesn't fix anything, but determining the best way to mete out the most equitable punishments for the most heinous of crimes is key. Anything less is short-changing the public. And anything more drastic at this juncture is not prudent (though it might shake things up enough that real reforms will take hold...) I am skeptical of the election of judges in this state in a general sort of way... it turns them into more politicians than I am used to (but perhaps Texas had that in mind when it provided for electing judges instead of appointing them... that way the people can see a semi-unfiltered view of who it was in the robes... not some backroom appointment situation that most other states engage in... (as well as federal...)
I am a firm believer in personal responsibility and I find that people who are "pro-government" are sometimes blindly so, as a general rule. (they tend to be the most dug-in on their views of the death penalty in general.) I am consistently skeptical of the government and though their sole purpose is to be at the will of the people, I am aware they often do not represent those who elect them. People who are emphatically pro-death penalty are usually of the group that does not cast a skeptical eye on their government, and therefore are not working to affect change in a broken legal system... which repeats the cycle over and over.... making real change that much harder to achieve.
I think if there was a sentence that could be considered as definitive enough to be a proper punishment for things like 1st degree murder, I would rather have it than what we have now. We need to fix it... but I guess I'm saying I don't really know where the first changes are going to (or should) take place.
I think you alluded to the first one... The Appeals court admitting they are wrong and having the stones to do it. Not overturning a ruling purely on professional pissing contests (as judges in circuits can sometimes do), but saying "we messed up... sorry." I don't think that should be as hard as it is...
And we need to stop appeals court justices (even at the federal level) from arbitrarily inflecting their bias into decisions. Cold, impartial and blind is how justice should ALWAYS be... but there are few these days that believe that.:( One of the most enlightening ways to illustrate this whole debate is handled in one movie (of the play) "12 angry men." It really made me think... and Henry Fonda was great in it.:) I didn't see the remake though... If more people were simply more curious, and more inclined to seek truth and fact rather than a certain biased-laden reason to mold the situation so that their answer fits the question (guilty or innocent), our system of justice would be long on its way to healing itself... and the people who got it there would be the same people who benefit the most from the healing... the average citizen like you or me.
Sorry if I sound incoherent... I took some Nyquil.... heh.
No, that's not my point. Did I attack them? No. I'm a Mac user, and according to their website, by my very nature I'm a smug bastard who should be PWNED and taken down a few pegs (like the "Johnny Cache" wireless exploit... he used a Macbook to be a dick to Apple users because he didn't like how "smug" they were.) A blanket assumption to be sure, and certainly childish. Like Johnny Cache, these guys are lashing out like 3rd grade kids at everyone with a Mac, rather than going after the specific smug mac users who gave them a virtual "black eye." Why do they crave attention so much?
I don't understand the fuss either, with the exception that the people defending these fellows are claiming that anyone who opposes how they went about it (or how they decided on the method of publishing exploits) is somehow "the reason no one likes apple" or "just being smug."
I am all for finding exploits, publishing them... and letting people know of workarounds before the exploit reaches critical mass in the wild.
No apple users have never wanted to be exempt from the process... but if every Apache exploit was compiled with the same sort of whiny sarcasm that these guys put into the Apple "bugs", people wouldn't be happy reading it. I'd rather read a dry, intellectual explanation of the exploit than the juvenile manner in which these folks present their findings. (who admit getting too much "hate" mail from Apple bloggists and whatnot... which I do not excuse in the slightest)
Imagine if a reputable security firm kept using the phrase "PWNED" in their explanations of exploits. People would grow tired of it.
I am not angry about it, don't get me wrong. what I am angry about is that if I (or other non-fanatical Mac users) criticize the manner in which these security buffs present "bugs" in OS X as some sort of childish vendetta, we are somehow smug for even suggesting the people are acting like petulant children who got spurned by some blogs.
Publish the exploits... let people know the workarounds... stop claiming some "king of the sandpile" mentality about the results and let's get to the business of fixing them.
Anything else is sideshow theatrics and has no business being part of a serious discussion like security. I mean the Quicktime bug affects Windows users too... Why not "PWNAGE" them or something too?
You have to admit, their entire approach smells like a 12 year old with a Geocities page made the site.
Re:Attempt to Get Death Penalty for Zacarias Mouss
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No. That's the difference between interpersonal relationships and the government.
The law is the law. If you believe such things, all government is from the consent of God....
I didn't say it was alright for you to exact revenge on someone who has wronged you in such a way as to deserve the death penalty.... That is what "turn the other cheek" is all about.
Remember, Jesus also said "I didn't come here to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." Meaning we're not bound by the curse of the law anymore, but we are still bound to uphold it...
And the punishment in this country for crimes that warrant it is the death penalty. That is the law.
Nothing like being mature about it. I don't excuse the Apple blogs from being snippy. (There were some blogs that legitimately engaged them in questioning some of the merits of their findings... but there was probably lots of hate too... it's the internet after all...) I have mostly ignored the blathering on both sides. It's not even entertaining anymore... it's like watching two geeks fight about Picard/Kirk.... Old and tired.
They could take the high road and avoid the flood of more fanboy venom, but they didn't. They decided to "neener neener neener" it up in an attempt to get the "last dig in".... What, are they twelve?
For whatever reason, they are taunting for more fanboyism to flood the tubes. Sour Grapes? Sounds like it. Schoolyard immaturity sounds more appropriate. Most people got over this sort of thing when they hit puberty... but I guess these guys cling to the old system war debates and moronic L33T speak. An occasional dig here and there is funny... devoting one's life to the pursuit of it is just sad.
It does nothing for their credibility.... (And there's already a fix available....) Seems like they'd have posted a fix too, since they knew how to exploit it. If they were indeed out to make OS X better (well, the apps better... this is a Quicktime bug..).. but they're not. They're simply out to "show those mac users" their OS isn't bulletproof. Well, most of the mature Mac users never believed it was. More bulletproof than windows? I'd say. But that just means a windows user requires more tools and help to keep his system safe than a Mac user (most of the time...) it doesn't make Windows "worse" or "more rotten"... just different. Because the focus of Windows for a long time was a different direction... Now things are changing with the prevalence of the internet.......but I'm rambling...:) These goobs need to grow up. They're a credit to the trolls everywhere.
Re:Attempt to Get Death Penalty for Zacarias Mouss
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I think so too, but I think the Ps2/PS1(one) lifespan owes lots to the availability of the console for so long. It wasn't that long ago that the PSOne was still being sold, and with the homogenous controller/connectors, the PS2 and PS1 could live long past the other consoles. Let's face it, Nintendo basically abandoned the Gamecube early... It was better than the PS2 in most respects, but Nintendo (as they rightly admit) botched the handling of the console.
I think the PS2 (which can still be purchased new this christmas... in snazzy colors!) will last a couple more years... because usually the console will survive one year after their last production run... based on the sheer number of installed base. And with backwards compatibility being touted as "complete" by Sony (unlike MSFT, which do not claim much in the way of backwards compatibility...outside of a few "choice" titles) the PS2 seems poised to live quite a bit into 2008 if history is any indicator...
Heck, Nintendo peeved me greatly with their removal of component capability on their "redesigned" cubes. I have an HDTV and s-Video Gamecube looks like ass.:) Component is a bit more tolerable, but when my launch cube goes south, I'll have to find another used one to replace it with, since the current models sold remove the very thing I need on the console. Nintendo did a spectacular Sega-esque abandonment of their Cube... ah well... when something interesting comes along for the Wii, I'll probably get me one... (interesting for me, mind you... I know it's got things other folks like..) Then I won't have to worry about the digital out on the Cube being nixed.:)
I was really, really close to getting a Saturn at the local Montgomery Ward (and Panzer Dragoon), but I decided to hold off and see what the PSX was going to do.
Looking back, the games I liked playing more were on the Saturn (scrolling shooters, and 2D fighting games)... and as a result my PSX got limited play until a few decent RPGs came out... by that time the Saturn was toast.:)
The list forgot the Atari "XE gamesystem" with its grotesque buttons (pastel? Really?) and uneventful lineup (anyone with an Atari computer would've already had the games for the XE system...and it wasn't about to take over any of Nintendo's position..) I just want to put it on the list to add to Atari's total lack of direction and foresight at the hands of Jack 'slash/n/burn' Tramiel...:)
I knew this would happen after Gamestop acquired EB. The rivalry for my entertainment dollar kept prices low, stores stocked, and incentives high for return business. Now that they're one lousy company, it shows. Nothing's in stock, the clerks are more worried if I have something to trade than if they can assist me in finding games in their odd store configurations. Preorders, discount club, and some stupid magazine are all pushed before I get out the door. Not to mention used game prices going up considerably... waiting for a decent price point gives you the bottom of the barrel... traded in by morons who use the discs to cut the coke lines on top of their systems...
Eh... I miss the old EB, even though they were sometimes pricier for used games (they had better stock...) I am not messing with their preorder system for anything, since it doesn't guarantee they'll hold it until Saturday (when I can get to the store)... so they can keep the spiel.
Now, it's not even worth the bother... i go with the big stores or online... the merger has not helped the consumer, that's for sure.
However, abusing your monopoly position or using your monopoly position to become a monopoly in another market is.
Wal Mart can threaten all they want, but since Target, Costco, and well, every other retailer on the planet sells DVDs, their position is not exactly one that will get them more than a few blurbs in the press.
See how Disney removed the episodes from iTunes after Wal Mart's stunt? Oh wait....
Back when VA-176 was still using SPADs, they had a patch (or a shirt, I'm remembering this from a story my dad told me. It was his first squadron when he joined the Navy...), that said:
"Jet engines are for kids"
Or something like that... I thought that was funny.:)
The SPADs (A-1 Skyraiders) were tough planes for their day... easy to maintain, nimble, and pretty slick. But that is a bygone era... just like the age of the Interceptors like the F-14.
Then he should post the details for those of us who understand what he's talking about, and leave the other people to wallow in their own ignorance.
Deliberately withholding information because of some nebulous "threat" that has never been proven smacks of misdirection and just more "shell-game" antics by some folks who have a personal beef with Apple.
I don't really care if they hate Apple's userbase with all the bile of Hell... if they're serious about this and are not just faking the results to be pissy children, then come out with it. Otherwise, they just need to STFU.
Claiming that he won't reveal details because "no one understands" sounds like HE doesn't understand most likely.
They can charge me market value when I get back the money *I* provided through tax dollars so they could build their infrastructure. Their sweetheart deals and other nonsense they wrangled out of the taxpayer is obscene. Sure it makes for a "better" internet "experience", but we're falling behind the rest of the industrialized world in terms of bandwidth...
Instead of opening the pipes larger, they decide to arbitrarily block or throttle traffic.
There is no such thing as a "free" market in the ISP world. They're regulated (not much, though) monopolies sanctioned by the government. It's infrastructure. It's time we treat it like that and stop broadband providers from sticking it to customers twice... once when they funnel off tax dollars to grab land for their lines, grab government incentives to build the network, and so forth, and again when they charge $60/month and throttle people's bandwidth because they're too cheap to continue to expand w/o raping the public again for the opportunity to lay yet MORE infrastructure down.:-)
Ideally, you'd have been correct if indeed the market had behaved this way... but since the Government was involved, you know your butt hurts afterwards...
I prefer the solution in my town... two cable providers. One municipal, one private.:) The competition is good for business on both sides, AND it makes for a better, less futzed-with internet experience.:)
That's what 90% of ISPs and broadband providers need... another player in their market.. that way they won't try to pull this crap.
Most of where I live in Texas went from Comcast to TW. I don't know how far it goes, but they're doing the "we're time warner now..." commercials.
I'm still on comcast's network, until TW gets around to screwing that up.... We HAD time warner for a while before Comcast, then Comcast came in.... now comcast is back out and TW is back in....
When the CREATORS of copyrighted works get compensated by these suits, we can speak logically on the subject of copyright. If you remove copyright, copyright law, and the *AA out of it... you have nothing to talk about. (Anywhere you see "you" it is the COLLECTIVE "you" who endorse or otherwise buy into the fallacious argument that somehow copyright infringement is "theft" and some faceless company has lost one red cent because the work exists outside of the secretive confines of their IP fortresses...) So don't get your knickers in a twist, because this is going to get ugly.... still with me? Read on....
HOLDERS of Copyright are just leeches on the creative works. They are sponges or parasites who GLOB onto the creative force and derive benefit from that creative force, often to the detriment of the force (Black blues men... anyone?)
The claim was against a deceased party. If they wish to continue going after the ESTATE of the deceased party, that's their gamble. But in a PR war where the *AA looks like a bunch of jackals (yes, they in fact are), going after a dead guy's assets with trumped up damages is just as bad as asking Mrs. Lincoln "Other than that, how did you like the play?"
If society wishes to have copyright for the CONSTITUTIONALLY PROVIDED "limited time".. I have no problem with it. Infinite renewals by things that do not die (corporations) and holding companies who make their living off the WORK of others is NOT "a limited time."
Until this is fixed, the RIAA will always be in the wrong... even if they have "proof". Copyright has been bastardized by corporate greed. It is broken... possibly beyond repair.... simply put the RIAA/MPAA and other complicit corporations have broken it off in the collective butt of the United States. It's time we beat them to death with the other end of the stick.
And no, logical reasoning, an appeal to human compassion, or anything similar will change our minds. The *AA's have raised the stakes. It's time they learned the consequences.
Sound harsh? So what. They asked for this. They started it. We will finish it.
Boycotts, new business models, etc. WON'T FIX IT. They just give fuel to the paranoia and more draconian measures come as a result. No, it's time to scrap it all. If corporations die off because of it, who cares. Multinational corporations are doing nothing but loading their coffers anyway. They can weather a little copyright reform.
Trouble is, THEY like the system. THEY want it to stay the same. And POLITICIANS are stupid enough to go along with them, even though corporations don't vote. Why? Because we have become lazy. We have given up our power and let the corporations tell us how and what we can do. We need to get that back. We need to remind the politicians WHO votes. WE DO. And if they want to stay in OUR HOUSE, they will represent US.. not the faceless moneychangers who give them free lunches and seminars on how evil computers are.
I'm tired of the logical fallacies that people bring forth to "balance" the debate. This debate hasn't been balanced since the FIRST time Congress extended copyright. It has been a steady downhill slide, from the DMCA, to the "analog hole" GARBAGE, to Orrin "hope you rot" Hatch wishing he could VANDALIZE computers of suspected infringers like some idiotic Mormon vigilante. I'm sorry. The logic went out the window with that one. The DMCA is just a cherry on top of a shit sundae that we are being forced to eat so some asshole in a high-rise can rape artists of their works and live off the profits until hell freezes over.
Peddle your argument elsewhere. The gloves are off. I'm done being nice to these people. And if my lack of purchases is seen as piracy.. who cares? Kiss my rosy red ass. Think they won't tighten the screws when we stop buying their crap? DREAM ON.
Your second footnote isn't even worth speaking about.
Good point. Of course Apple's had two previous battery recalls (not including the Macbook Pro non-flamey death ones)... and Dell's had one before this recently, IIRC.
You just can't get good battery support these days.;)
Apple will recall batteries if they need to... I mean, they recalled Some Macbook Pro batteries because they sucked... (and posed no danger to life or "jewels" heheh)
It is interesting that Sony's having QC issues in certain segments of their manufacturing of late... perhaps their corner-cutting is starting to show in their collective "face"....
*(shrug)* I like the tinfoil hat idea, though.;) It's a SONY New World ORDER conspiracy!!!
3rd Iteration is indeed safe, but I generally wait until the 3rd generation comes out and then get the 2nd gen at a lower price.:)
As it stands, it seems the notebooks are typically problematic (no matter what company you buy from), because I've not seen many complaints about the Intel iMac or Mini. That doesn't mean there aren't problems (it is rev A after all), but it seems lower.
I would assume the desktops will be lower in general for problems. I did buy a Rev A powermac G5 (dual 2GHz incredible deal...), and other than a slight memory issue (that was replaced quickly under warranty)... it's been running like a top. I am not much of a laptop guy... since I would rather sit at the computer than roam with one.;)
Because WMP SENT THE DATA it COLLECTED. iTunes does NOT send any of that data (we're not talking about the mini store here... the "GUID" so try to stay on this portion of the topic.) Seriously, were you asleep? Google is your friend....
I told myself I was done with this thread, but each time I'm surprised with your responses.
I recommend firing up DOS 6.22... you're guaranteed not to send Data to Apple/Microsoft/the Government/the Pope/the New World Order/Israel/the Illuminati.:)
This is really it.;) I've given you enough information to be less of an uninformed paranoid, so go with God, Allah, FSM, Buddah, Vishnu, Satan, Kali, Chutulu, who/whatever....
Simple. Just don't share it.... or use another ripper besides iTunes (there are plenty.) Potential problem solved. What you described was not a breach of privacy even if you squint.
As for the rest of it... you've beaten this to death. It's not a conspiracy to get your information. It really isn't.
No, your point was you said it couldn't be turned off. Gator can't be "turned off". It needs extracted before it's gone. This is a HUGE difference. You're getting good with the apples/oranges comparisons. But your insistence that this is spyware is just getting silly now.
Trust your own tcpdump. I know I do. And I also use Little Snitch too.
It requires you to hit A SINGLE BUTTON on the FRONT PAGE. This is not rocket surgery.
Big deal. Don't upgrade, if you're so paranoid.. They did not hide the fact from you that it was a feature, unlike Gator's "features" and WMP's "features".
If the MP3 never leaves your machine, WHY are you so concerned about the possible GUID (which you haven't proven that it is, and neither have I. because as I've said, that number varies based on the song... in an unidentified pattern, at least as far as I can see... if it were a GUID, it'd be the same each time.) Remember, "Trust your TCPDUMP" because iTunes doesn't phone home... and if you pirated the MP3, it won't contain that anyway... so what is the point besides you're grasping at straws in an attempt to make this look more malicious than it is? This randomly selected number in mp3's does not prove Apple has a pattern of spying on you with iTunes and neither does the mini store.
This thread is going nowhere. Your strawman arguments only make things seem more complicated than they really are.
What I'd REALLY like to hear from someone is if you disabled the iTunes Store in configuration (6.0.1) and you installed 6.0.2, what would happen? My guess is it would not show as "on", but there's no need to tell us your guess. You're still stuck on "spyware." We know your answer. We know your position. It's time to let it rest and let the rest of the world move on leaving you ranting like a homless person on the street corner about them "LISTENING to my THOUGHTS!"
You either believe apple or you don't. Either you believe Microsoft or you don't. It's your choice. Don't believe them? Don't use iTunes or WMP. Simple answer. Since you can't be certain WMP doesn't send your personal data even after you turn it off, how can you trust MS' claim they don't get any personal data? The idea's the same. But it is fact that if you don't use the Mini store, it does not send the data (i.e. iTunes 6.0.1 if you're totally paranoid) you don't send data to Apple, period. That much we know. In other cases of this magnitude, we never could have been completely sure. We just got "assurances" and "configuration options" to go by.
Apple said it doesn't keep the data. What, other than marketing research could a bunch of artist and track names get you? Still, if you choose not to believe that, that's your choice. I am not going to force anyone to believe on way or the other. But Microsoft has already admitted they DID collect information that could be connected to you in their "data". It wasn't overtly identifiable, but it could be pieced together to point to you. Privacy groups have already railed on Microsoft about this for quite some time. It took that railing to get them to admit it as well. Apple has said from the beginning nothing personal is kept to get the mini Store to work. That goes back to the original statement... either you believe them or you don't. The people's tcpdump investigations proved (elsewhere) that nothing identifying you was sent (that "they could see"), just the song information (artist, title, year, I think... I can't remember what they found off the top of my head.)
But the key people are missing time and again is: You CAN turn it off. Where do you get your information that you somehow can't? It is on the front panel of iTunes. the Mini Store is gone, nothing is sent, it's gone. You are mistaken. There is no argument that it is gone, not even from the paranoid. Even the people who think this whole thing is spyware admit that, how come you can't?
BTW, I encoded a few MP3's and the UUID was different for each track, and contained nothing really interesting that I could find. (i.e. no "pattern" in my 20 song experiment.) But even still, there's a limit to the amount of paranoia any one person can have, and I for one am not interested in some ID string on a file I encode on my own machine that never leaves it. AACs do not automagically assume iPod. But that's another argument. What could the MP3 actually encode? Unless you told iTunes or OS X your shoe size, favorite color, and dream date, I'm certain your privacy isn't being compromised by Apple encoding your SSN into the comments field (I looked, it doesn't.)
All this goes back to the original statement, and that is Apple is not getting treated fairly in this case. There are times they deserve to be smacked around... this is not one of them. When Apple needs it, we should definitely go for it. Apple doesn't need it this time. And I say again for the cheap seats: You can turn it off as easily as it was turned on. Of THAT fact, there is no argument..
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It's just easier to reproduce on the Mac. It is the same bug, yet it is more difficult to do in Windows than OS X. The windows bug can be done by the user too... albeit with a few more steps, it seems. It's not like you have to re-solder the posts to the RAM and short-circuit some BIOS pin to get this to happen. Admittedly, fewer people will want to muck with it, but those people are less likely to have 3GB of RAM (or need it for that matter). (On either system.)
(I don't know if that's reinforcement, but it sure sounds funny when you read it, eh?)
So the junk they make really peeves you, eh? :) I feel the same way about Windows. :P All talk and no action .....;)
I'm not saying Macs are better or worse than other computers (but of the 3 Macs I have, they behave better than most I've owned (YMMV).... not all of them run OS X... I have Linux on a G4), but considering the track record of Macs (compared to the bugs that you see reported) are pretty good, the mere "hypnosis of marketing" seems like a far-fetched proposition. I do not endorse any computer when asked, simply because people who ask me are simply looking for a quick answer to avoid doing their own homework on which computer they should get for their needs. A great majority of people could get by with a good pen and paper (and a calculator...). Computers have been marketed as a "must have", but those who believe that are among those who really need a simpler solution.
There are probably people who believe exactly as you do. Trouble is, like those who blindly believe the Mac is perfect, they have no factual basis for the assertion.
Oh, I agree too. I live in Texas as well. I am not a native Texan, and haven't lived here for very long, but I am not a fan of the death penalty... however, I see the underpinnings of it working, and really want it reformed rather than outright abolished... (if there is no way to fix it, then abolish it.. but we've not given enough time or energy to fixing the process before we toss it out completely.) There is no need for an "express lane" (like Ron White once said...), and appeals though costly should be transparent and involve things more than small technicalities and procedural violations (unless those things hampered the jury's ability to render a verdict). I do not have a moral objection to the death penalty, with the exception that in terms of it being used, it should show no cultural, socioeconomic or racial bias. I do have a problem with it being used as a means to keep the "mob happy", or to keep the wool pulled over the public's collective eyes. The system is broken, and it should be fixed... adding a swifter death row process doesn't fix anything, but determining the best way to mete out the most equitable punishments for the most heinous of crimes is key. Anything less is short-changing the public. And anything more drastic at this juncture is not prudent (though it might shake things up enough that real reforms will take hold...) I am skeptical of the election of judges in this state in a general sort of way... it turns them into more politicians than I am used to (but perhaps Texas had that in mind when it provided for electing judges instead of appointing them... that way the people can see a semi-unfiltered view of who it was in the robes... not some backroom appointment situation that most other states engage in... (as well as federal...)
:( One of the most enlightening ways to illustrate this whole debate is handled in one movie (of the play) "12 angry men." It really made me think... and Henry Fonda was great in it. :) I didn't see the remake though... If more people were simply more curious, and more inclined to seek truth and fact rather than a certain biased-laden reason to mold the situation so that their answer fits the question (guilty or innocent), our system of justice would be long on its way to healing itself... and the people who got it there would be the same people who benefit the most from the healing... the average citizen like you or me.
I am a firm believer in personal responsibility and I find that people who are "pro-government" are sometimes blindly so, as a general rule. (they tend to be the most dug-in on their views of the death penalty in general.) I am consistently skeptical of the government and though their sole purpose is to be at the will of the people, I am aware they often do not represent those who elect them. People who are emphatically pro-death penalty are usually of the group that does not cast a skeptical eye on their government, and therefore are not working to affect change in a broken legal system... which repeats the cycle over and over.... making real change that much harder to achieve.
I think if there was a sentence that could be considered as definitive enough to be a proper punishment for things like 1st degree murder, I would rather have it than what we have now. We need to fix it... but I guess I'm saying I don't really know where the first changes are going to (or should) take place.
I think you alluded to the first one... The Appeals court admitting they are wrong and having the stones to do it. Not overturning a ruling purely on professional pissing contests (as judges in circuits can sometimes do), but saying "we messed up... sorry." I don't think that should be as hard as it is...
And we need to stop appeals court justices (even at the federal level) from arbitrarily inflecting their bias into decisions. Cold, impartial and blind is how justice should ALWAYS be... but there are few these days that believe that.
Sorry if I sound incoherent... I took some Nyquil.... heh.
No, that's not my point. Did I attack them? No. I'm a Mac user, and according to their website, by my very nature I'm a smug bastard who should be PWNED and taken down a few pegs (like the "Johnny Cache" wireless exploit... he used a Macbook to be a dick to Apple users because he didn't like how "smug" they were.) A blanket assumption to be sure, and certainly childish. Like Johnny Cache, these guys are lashing out like 3rd grade kids at everyone with a Mac, rather than going after the specific smug mac users who gave them a virtual "black eye." Why do they crave attention so much?
I don't understand the fuss either, with the exception that the people defending these fellows are claiming that anyone who opposes how they went about it (or how they decided on the method of publishing exploits) is somehow "the reason no one likes apple" or "just being smug."
I am all for finding exploits, publishing them... and letting people know of workarounds before the exploit reaches critical mass in the wild.
No apple users have never wanted to be exempt from the process... but if every Apache exploit was compiled with the same sort of whiny sarcasm that these guys put into the Apple "bugs", people wouldn't be happy reading it. I'd rather read a dry, intellectual explanation of the exploit than the juvenile manner in which these folks present their findings. (who admit getting too much "hate" mail from Apple bloggists and whatnot... which I do not excuse in the slightest)
Imagine if a reputable security firm kept using the phrase "PWNED" in their explanations of exploits. People would grow tired of it.
I am not angry about it, don't get me wrong. what I am angry about is that if I (or other non-fanatical Mac users) criticize the manner in which these security buffs present "bugs" in OS X as some sort of childish vendetta, we are somehow smug for even suggesting the people are acting like petulant children who got spurned by some blogs.
Publish the exploits... let people know the workarounds... stop claiming some "king of the sandpile" mentality about the results and let's get to the business of fixing them.
Anything else is sideshow theatrics and has no business being part of a serious discussion like security. I mean the Quicktime bug affects Windows users too... Why not "PWNAGE" them or something too?
You have to admit, their entire approach smells like a 12 year old with a Geocities page made the site.
No. That's the difference between interpersonal relationships and the government.
The law is the law. If you believe such things, all government is from the consent of God....
I didn't say it was alright for you to exact revenge on someone who has wronged you in such a way as to deserve the death penalty.... That is what "turn the other cheek" is all about.
Remember, Jesus also said "I didn't come here to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." Meaning we're not bound by the curse of the law anymore, but we are still bound to uphold it...
And the punishment in this country for crimes that warrant it is the death penalty. That is the law.
Nothing like being mature about it. I don't excuse the Apple blogs from being snippy. (There were some blogs that legitimately engaged them in questioning some of the merits of their findings... but there was probably lots of hate too... it's the internet after all...) I have mostly ignored the blathering on both sides. It's not even entertaining anymore... it's like watching two geeks fight about Picard/Kirk.... Old and tired.
...but I'm rambling... :) These goobs need to grow up. They're a credit to the trolls everywhere.
They could take the high road and avoid the flood of more fanboy venom, but they didn't. They decided to "neener neener neener" it up in an attempt to get the "last dig in".... What, are they twelve?
For whatever reason, they are taunting for more fanboyism to flood the tubes. Sour Grapes? Sounds like it. Schoolyard immaturity sounds more appropriate. Most people got over this sort of thing when they hit puberty... but I guess these guys cling to the old system war debates and moronic L33T speak. An occasional dig here and there is funny... devoting one's life to the pursuit of it is just sad.
It does nothing for their credibility.... (And there's already a fix available....) Seems like they'd have posted a fix too, since they knew how to exploit it. If they were indeed out to make OS X better (well, the apps better... this is a Quicktime bug..).. but they're not. They're simply out to "show those mac users" their OS isn't bulletproof. Well, most of the mature Mac users never believed it was. More bulletproof than windows? I'd say. But that just means a windows user requires more tools and help to keep his system safe than a Mac user (most of the time...) it doesn't make Windows "worse" or "more rotten"... just different. Because the focus of Windows for a long time was a different direction... Now things are changing with the prevalence of the internet....
It's not a deterrent. It's a punishment....
I think so too, but I think the Ps2/PS1(one) lifespan owes lots to the availability of the console for so long. It wasn't that long ago that the PSOne was still being sold, and with the homogenous controller/connectors, the PS2 and PS1 could live long past the other consoles. Let's face it, Nintendo basically abandoned the Gamecube early... It was better than the PS2 in most respects, but Nintendo (as they rightly admit) botched the handling of the console.
:) Component is a bit more tolerable, but when my launch cube goes south, I'll have to find another used one to replace it with, since the current models sold remove the very thing I need on the console. Nintendo did a spectacular Sega-esque abandonment of their Cube... ah well... when something interesting comes along for the Wii, I'll probably get me one... (interesting for me, mind you... I know it's got things other folks like..) Then I won't have to worry about the digital out on the Cube being nixed. :)
I think the PS2 (which can still be purchased new this christmas... in snazzy colors!) will last a couple more years... because usually the console will survive one year after their last production run... based on the sheer number of installed base. And with backwards compatibility being touted as "complete" by Sony (unlike MSFT, which do not claim much in the way of backwards compatibility...outside of a few "choice" titles) the PS2 seems poised to live quite a bit into 2008 if history is any indicator...
Heck, Nintendo peeved me greatly with their removal of component capability on their "redesigned" cubes. I have an HDTV and s-Video Gamecube looks like ass.
I was really, really close to getting a Saturn at the local Montgomery Ward (and Panzer Dragoon), but I decided to hold off and see what the PSX was going to do.
:)
:)
Looking back, the games I liked playing more were on the Saturn (scrolling shooters, and 2D fighting games)... and as a result my PSX got limited play until a few decent RPGs came out... by that time the Saturn was toast.
The list forgot the Atari "XE gamesystem" with its grotesque buttons (pastel? Really?) and uneventful lineup (anyone with an Atari computer would've already had the games for the XE system...and it wasn't about to take over any of Nintendo's position..) I just want to put it on the list to add to Atari's total lack of direction and foresight at the hands of Jack 'slash/n/burn' Tramiel...
it's called a cliche... look into it.
And changing your name to "customer" won't amount to a hill of ape snot as far as the conglomerates are concerned.
Refuse to go into a store that treats you like crap. I do. (Hence the original point of my post... I don't GO into Gamestops anymore....)
I knew this would happen after Gamestop acquired EB. The rivalry for my entertainment dollar kept prices low, stores stocked, and incentives high for return business. Now that they're one lousy company, it shows. Nothing's in stock, the clerks are more worried if I have something to trade than if they can assist me in finding games in their odd store configurations. Preorders, discount club, and some stupid magazine are all pushed before I get out the door. Not to mention used game prices going up considerably... waiting for a decent price point gives you the bottom of the barrel... traded in by morons who use the discs to cut the coke lines on top of their systems...
Eh... I miss the old EB, even though they were sometimes pricier for used games (they had better stock...) I am not messing with their preorder system for anything, since it doesn't guarantee they'll hold it until Saturday (when I can get to the store)... so they can keep the spiel.
Now, it's not even worth the bother... i go with the big stores or online... the merger has not helped the consumer, that's for sure.
But we're MORE upset with OURSELVES for not catching it. Amazing how the WHOLE quote doesn't seem so divisive.
Funny how that works.
True enough... but I wouldn't call Wal-Mart's music download service "working".... more like "existing". ;)
Yes, you are correct.
However, abusing your monopoly position or using your monopoly position to become a monopoly in another market is.
Wal Mart can threaten all they want, but since Target, Costco, and well, every other retailer on the planet sells DVDs, their position is not exactly one that will get them more than a few blurbs in the press.
See how Disney removed the episodes from iTunes after Wal Mart's stunt? Oh wait....
Back when VA-176 was still using SPADs, they had a patch (or a shirt, I'm remembering this from a story my dad told me. It was his first squadron when he joined the Navy...), that said:
:)
:)
"Jet engines are for kids"
Or something like that... I thought that was funny.
The SPADs (A-1 Skyraiders) were tough planes for their day... easy to maintain, nimble, and pretty slick. But that is a bygone era... just like the age of the Interceptors like the F-14.
*sigh* I'm getting old.
Then he should post the details for those of us who understand what he's talking about, and leave the other people to wallow in their own ignorance.
Deliberately withholding information because of some nebulous "threat" that has never been proven smacks of misdirection and just more "shell-game" antics by some folks who have a personal beef with Apple.
I don't really care if they hate Apple's userbase with all the bile of Hell... if they're serious about this and are not just faking the results to be pissy children, then come out with it. Otherwise, they just need to STFU.
Claiming that he won't reveal details because "no one understands" sounds like HE doesn't understand most likely.
They can charge me market value when I get back the money *I* provided through tax dollars so they could build their infrastructure. Their sweetheart deals and other nonsense they wrangled out of the taxpayer is obscene. Sure it makes for a "better" internet "experience", but we're falling behind the rest of the industrialized world in terms of bandwidth...
:-)
:) The competition is good for business on both sides, AND it makes for a better, less futzed-with internet experience. :)
Instead of opening the pipes larger, they decide to arbitrarily block or throttle traffic.
There is no such thing as a "free" market in the ISP world. They're regulated (not much, though) monopolies sanctioned by the government. It's infrastructure. It's time we treat it like that and stop broadband providers from sticking it to customers twice... once when they funnel off tax dollars to grab land for their lines, grab government incentives to build the network, and so forth, and again when they charge $60/month and throttle people's bandwidth because they're too cheap to continue to expand w/o raping the public again for the opportunity to lay yet MORE infrastructure down.
Ideally, you'd have been correct if indeed the market had behaved this way... but since the Government was involved, you know your butt hurts afterwards...
I prefer the solution in my town... two cable providers. One municipal, one private.
That's what 90% of ISPs and broadband providers need... another player in their market.. that way they won't try to pull this crap.
Most of where I live in Texas went from Comcast to TW. I don't know how far it goes, but they're doing the "we're time warner now..." commercials.
I'm still on comcast's network, until TW gets around to screwing that up.... We HAD time warner for a while before Comcast, then Comcast came in.... now comcast is back out and TW is back in....
Ah well.... I'm too far away for DSL anyway...
When the CREATORS of copyrighted works get compensated by these suits, we can speak logically on the subject of copyright. If you remove copyright, copyright law, and the *AA out of it... you have nothing to talk about. (Anywhere you see "you" it is the COLLECTIVE "you" who endorse or otherwise buy into the fallacious argument that somehow copyright infringement is "theft" and some faceless company has lost one red cent because the work exists outside of the secretive confines of their IP fortresses...) So don't get your knickers in a twist, because this is going to get ugly.... still with me? Read on....
HOLDERS of Copyright are just leeches on the creative works. They are sponges or parasites who GLOB onto the creative force and derive benefit from that creative force, often to the detriment of the force (Black blues men... anyone?)
The claim was against a deceased party. If they wish to continue going after the ESTATE of the deceased party, that's their gamble. But in a PR war where the *AA looks like a bunch of jackals (yes, they in fact are), going after a dead guy's assets with trumped up damages is just as bad as asking Mrs. Lincoln "Other than that, how did you like the play?"
If society wishes to have copyright for the CONSTITUTIONALLY PROVIDED "limited time".. I have no problem with it. Infinite renewals by things that do not die (corporations) and holding companies who make their living off the WORK of others is NOT "a limited time."
Until this is fixed, the RIAA will always be in the wrong... even if they have "proof". Copyright has been bastardized by corporate greed. It is broken... possibly beyond repair.... simply put the RIAA/MPAA and other complicit corporations have broken it off in the collective butt of the United States. It's time we beat them to death with the other end of the stick.
And no, logical reasoning, an appeal to human compassion, or anything similar will change our minds. The *AA's have raised the stakes. It's time they learned the consequences.
Sound harsh? So what. They asked for this. They started it. We will finish it.
Boycotts, new business models, etc. WON'T FIX IT. They just give fuel to the paranoia and more draconian measures come as a result. No, it's time to scrap it all. If corporations die off because of it, who cares. Multinational corporations are doing nothing but loading their coffers anyway. They can weather a little copyright reform.
Trouble is, THEY like the system. THEY want it to stay the same. And POLITICIANS are stupid enough to go along with them, even though corporations don't vote. Why? Because we have become lazy. We have given up our power and let the corporations tell us how and what we can do. We need to get that back. We need to remind the politicians WHO votes. WE DO. And if they want to stay in OUR HOUSE, they will represent US.. not the faceless moneychangers who give them free lunches and seminars on how evil computers are.
I'm tired of the logical fallacies that people bring forth to "balance" the debate. This debate hasn't been balanced since the FIRST time Congress extended copyright. It has been a steady downhill slide, from the DMCA, to the "analog hole" GARBAGE, to Orrin "hope you rot" Hatch wishing he could VANDALIZE computers of suspected infringers like some idiotic Mormon vigilante. I'm sorry. The logic went out the window with that one. The DMCA is just a cherry on top of a shit sundae that we are being forced to eat so some asshole in a high-rise can rape artists of their works and live off the profits until hell freezes over.
Peddle your argument elsewhere. The gloves are off. I'm done being nice to these people. And if my lack of purchases is seen as piracy.. who cares? Kiss my rosy red ass. Think they won't tighten the screws when we stop buying their crap? DREAM ON.
Your second footnote isn't even worth speaking about.
Good point. Of course Apple's had two previous battery recalls (not including the Macbook Pro non-flamey death ones)... and Dell's had one before this recently, IIRC.
;)
;) It's a SONY New World ORDER conspiracy!!!
You just can't get good battery support these days.
Apple will recall batteries if they need to... I mean, they recalled Some Macbook Pro batteries because they sucked... (and posed no danger to life or "jewels" heheh)
It is interesting that Sony's having QC issues in certain segments of their manufacturing of late... perhaps their corner-cutting is starting to show in their collective "face"....
*(shrug)* I like the tinfoil hat idea, though.
3rd Iteration is indeed safe, but I generally wait until the 3rd generation comes out and then get the 2nd gen at a lower price. :)
;)
As it stands, it seems the notebooks are typically problematic (no matter what company you buy from), because I've not seen many complaints about the Intel iMac or Mini. That doesn't mean there aren't problems (it is rev A after all), but it seems lower.
I would assume the desktops will be lower in general for problems. I did buy a Rev A powermac G5 (dual 2GHz incredible deal...), and other than a slight memory issue (that was replaced quickly under warranty)... it's been running like a top. I am not much of a laptop guy... since I would rather sit at the computer than roam with one.
Because WMP SENT THE DATA it COLLECTED. iTunes does NOT send any of that data (we're not talking about the mini store here... the "GUID" so try to stay on this portion of the topic.) Seriously, were you asleep? Google is your friend....
:)
;) I've given you enough information to be less of an uninformed paranoid, so go with God, Allah, FSM, Buddah, Vishnu, Satan, Kali, Chutulu, who/whatever....
I told myself I was done with this thread, but each time I'm surprised with your responses.
I recommend firing up DOS 6.22... you're guaranteed not to send Data to Apple/Microsoft/the Government/the Pope/the New World Order/Israel/the Illuminati.
This is really it.
Simple. Just don't share it.... or use another ripper besides iTunes (there are plenty.) Potential problem solved. What you described was not a breach of privacy even if you squint.
As for the rest of it... you've beaten this to death. It's not a conspiracy to get your information. It really isn't.
No, your point was you said it couldn't be turned off. Gator can't be "turned off". It needs extracted before it's gone. This is a HUGE difference. You're getting good with the apples/oranges comparisons. But your insistence that this is spyware is just getting silly now.
Trust your own tcpdump. I know I do. And I also use Little Snitch too.
It requires you to hit A SINGLE BUTTON on the FRONT PAGE. This is not rocket surgery.
Big deal. Don't upgrade, if you're so paranoid.. They did not hide the fact from you that it was a feature, unlike Gator's "features" and WMP's "features".
If the MP3 never leaves your machine, WHY are you so concerned about the possible GUID (which you haven't proven that it is, and neither have I. because as I've said, that number varies based on the song... in an unidentified pattern, at least as far as I can see... if it were a GUID, it'd be the same each time.) Remember, "Trust your TCPDUMP" because iTunes doesn't phone home... and if you pirated the MP3, it won't contain that anyway... so what is the point besides you're grasping at straws in an attempt to make this look more malicious than it is? This randomly selected number in mp3's does not prove Apple has a pattern of spying on you with iTunes and neither does the mini store.
This thread is going nowhere. Your strawman arguments only make things seem more complicated than they really are.
What I'd REALLY like to hear from someone is if you disabled the iTunes Store in configuration (6.0.1) and you installed 6.0.2, what would happen? My guess is it would not show as "on", but there's no need to tell us your guess. You're still stuck on "spyware." We know your answer. We know your position. It's time to let it rest and let the rest of the world move on leaving you ranting like a homless person on the street corner about them "LISTENING to my THOUGHTS!"
You either believe apple or you don't. Either you believe Microsoft or you don't. It's your choice. Don't believe them? Don't use iTunes or WMP. Simple answer. Since you can't be certain WMP doesn't send your personal data even after you turn it off, how can you trust MS' claim they don't get any personal data? The idea's the same. But it is fact that if you don't use the Mini store, it does not send the data (i.e. iTunes 6.0.1 if you're totally paranoid) you don't send data to Apple, period. That much we know. In other cases of this magnitude, we never could have been completely sure. We just got "assurances" and "configuration options" to go by.
Apple said it doesn't keep the data. What, other than marketing research could a bunch of artist and track names get you? Still, if you choose not to believe that, that's your choice. I am not going to force anyone to believe on way or the other. But Microsoft has already admitted they DID collect information that could be connected to you in their "data". It wasn't overtly identifiable, but it could be pieced together to point to you. Privacy groups have already railed on Microsoft about this for quite some time. It took that railing to get them to admit it as well. Apple has said from the beginning nothing personal is kept to get the mini Store to work. That goes back to the original statement... either you believe them or you don't. The people's tcpdump investigations proved (elsewhere) that nothing identifying you was sent (that "they could see"), just the song information (artist, title, year, I think... I can't remember what they found off the top of my head.)
But the key people are missing time and again is: You CAN turn it off. Where do you get your information that you somehow can't? It is on the front panel of iTunes. the Mini Store is gone, nothing is sent, it's gone. You are mistaken. There is no argument that it is gone, not even from the paranoid. Even the people who think this whole thing is spyware admit that, how come you can't?
BTW, I encoded a few MP3's and the UUID was different for each track, and contained nothing really interesting that I could find. (i.e. no "pattern" in my 20 song experiment.) But even still, there's a limit to the amount of paranoia any one person can have, and I for one am not interested in some ID string on a file I encode on my own machine that never leaves it. AACs do not automagically assume iPod. But that's another argument. What could the MP3 actually encode? Unless you told iTunes or OS X your shoe size, favorite color, and dream date, I'm certain your privacy isn't being compromised by Apple encoding your SSN into the comments field (I looked, it doesn't.)
All this goes back to the original statement, and that is Apple is not getting treated fairly in this case. There are times they deserve to be smacked around... this is not one of them. When Apple needs it, we should definitely go for it. Apple doesn't need it this time. And I say again for the cheap seats: You can turn it off as easily as it was turned on. Of THAT fact, there is no argument..