Exactly.... Why the hell is it such a big deal that Apple provide interoperability, when Microsoft snubs its nose at every company who wants to know about their FILE formats.
This sort of double-standard is quite repugnant.
We can't get Congress to do JACK SQUAT to punish the GUILTY AS SIN Microsoft Monopoly, but we can spend our time worrying that Apple's iTunes store won't allow other players in on the bonanza? So much for free-market government. It's only a "free" market if they're paying the politicians it seems.
Even the Napster CEO has it right, and his company would stand to benefit from this... LET THE MARKET decide...
Bah. Politicians just moved above child molesters on my list of people to kill first when I become supreme overlord of this planet.:)
The converse is also true. Not supporting DRM-based things like iTMS or Napster will cause the companies to conclude (falsely) that it's all P2P's fault. Then it will be THEY, not the computer or software companies, who lobby to make DRM and restrictive computing law. Do you think the software industry really lobbied that hard for the DMCA? Sure some might've (Microsoft), but in the long run it will be the content conglomerates who are best served by such a move.
I guess by our arguments, we can't win either way. Bah... just learn to enjoy life without their content.... then when it becomes impossible to get, you won't miss it.:)
Yes their will be a way. Burn it to a CD, then rip it to MP3. Apple can explode tomorrow and the music will still play and can be made DRM-free. Apple tells you when you're done downloading "enjoy your music. Back it up to CD..." So why not listen, rather than claim it's just another DiVX?
Yeesh.. you windows fanboys are always looking for something to blame Apple about..:)
P2P is what drives the companies to create lockdowns. CD Burners drive their desire to lock down their content. Hell, a guy with a sharp stick could probably convince these technophobes that trees were causing rampant piracy, and they'd lobby congress to clearcut the US. They fear losing their grip on our wallets.
We all remember of course, two VCRs hooked together drove them to insert Macrovision (mustn't dupe tapes!!!) So, no matter how miniscule the problem might be (P2P is a specter of their own making. They give it life by being so afraid of it, trying to stomp it out, and giving it LOADS of free press), they will try to lock things down. It's in the companies' nature to do so. Why? They feel exactly one-sided about the whole issue. To them, it's a win-lose situation. Each pirated copy of something to them is a lost sale. We know this to be false, but they persist. Technology has overtaken their cartel model of doing business, and they don't like it. Just like the rise of the printing press gave illuminators ulcers.
So, as we've seen throughout history, they invent the "evil customer" theory that basically drives the users to give the companies a big finger and go get the content from their friends or P2P. Yes, there are people who will want something for nothing, even if CD's cost $.05. But those are not the people the companies are out to get. They want the casual consumers, who value convenience over principle. Why? So they can lock them inside their giant Pay-Per-View-Rent-only box. We, who couldn't care less about the content being shoved into the airwaves these days, are on the outside of the box, using non-approved browsers and "non-trusted" OSes. That's their perverse utopia. And they would rather we all rot, so their ROT-13 complexity DRM will keep Joe Sixpack from trying to get his Travis Tritt compilation to his pickup truck without paying the "transfer fee."
On a related note, Boycotting has become useless simply because not enough people will do it. And even if there were enough to affect some sort of economic impact, it is inevitable that by boycotting, we inflate the irrational fear of P2P by not making their sales go up each year. (Ironically, their industry, entertainment, is not subject to the laws of economics as all other industries are... somehow they're special... just ask them).
You're right about one thing though. You'll NEVER convince corporations to forget about DRM.
I'll remember that when you have all your rights taken.
I'll remember you didn't think it was a big deal. Like I said, if you had bothered to read, I don't care about the music. I care about the BIGGER picture.
But then again, you're the one claiming this isn't a crisis. Go back to your Reality TV and beer. Nothing more for you to see here...
"it isn't a matter of "Just by a CD or get your music 'somwhere else' and shut up." Fighting the indiscriminate appropriation of consumers legal rights by companies use Digital Rights Restriction technology is an important moral and legal issue."
True. It is. Personally I couldn't care less if they locked up all the music in the world. I am much more worried about the bigger picture, as you say. I don't know if I fight enough. But I write, and I try to inform. But no one listens. Quite frankly, not many of us are fighting the onslaught. No one cares, because they can still sit back in their vinyl chair and watch boobies from satellite with their 55" TV they bought at 22% interest from Best Buy.
Ask anyone not a regular reader of Slashdot what they're doing to send Orrin Hatch a clear message to leave our computers alone. They'll look at you as if you're eyes just fell out. Ask them if they're fighting Trusted Computing. They won't have an inkling of what you're on about. Ask them if they hate the draconian licensing scheme of Windows XP. They don't care. Ask them what the perpetual copyright is doing to our Public Domain... Ask them why we are constantly giving up our individual rights for the rights of a faceless corporation. As long as the mob has their reality TV and buckets of beer, they won't lift a finger.
I wish more of us were proactive. I wish I did more, honestly. The world is in need of some no-doze because the planet's spiraling out of control.
I can only hope the line that wakes up the unwashed masses isn't too far down the road. But, in the smaller picture... it's just music. I don't necessarily give two monkeys about it anyway.
Seek counseling... throwing any object at a wall shows you're compensating for an unfulfilled childhood wish. If I was your boss and you threw my company equipment at a wall, the next thing going at the wall would be your pinkslip....:)
Macs are fine. Just because you can't go to Fry's and get a PPC chip off the shelf (that's been returned 4 times already) doesn't make them proprietary.
What exactly is "pure" engineering? We use Powermac G5's with YDL and are engineering some serious PPC based hardware for our customers...
Seen a Dell lately? Missing some key items... and will miss more as they phase out the legacy. Macs just phase out legacy hardware quicker.
You don't have to upgrade your OS every 6 months. No one is forcing you to use Panther. Just like no one is forcing you to use XP... wait.. Microsoft is trying harder to get you to use XP...
Macs are infinitely more functional than a beige box PC. Sorry... having used both... from DOS 3.31 to Windows XP, I can say the Mac with OS X is much more useful.
I gave away my Windows PC to my cousin when I got my Powermac. It was useless and a pain to use after using OS X. I am forced to use an XP machine at work, because IT thinks microsoft is still worth fiddling with....
I have no use for Linux anymore except as a server. I can just say if you are able to judge means of a person based on whether or not they are going to use a Linux machine, you are kidding yourself. And you must not have programmed more than "hello world" for the Mac, because it's not a pain to program at all.
DRM is a technological solution to a social problem. It's been said many times before, but it's still true.
The problem with the Big labels' acceptance of the "new" business model like Napster (subscription) is that if they could, they'd rent you content and charge per use. A "pay-per-view" society is the content providers' wet dream. A funnel of money coming from your wallet and going to their bank account each time you turn on your TV, read a newspaper, or get on the internet.
Don't think that's what they want? DiVX was a piss-poor version of what they REALLY are after. You not having a physical copy of anything, and they controlling both ends of the pipe.
Can't do it? No, not yet they can't. But Trusted Computing and the legislation to back up their lockdown (DMCA anyone?), and they, not you, are in control. Each step is making it harder and harder for people to exert their rights over the rights of content owners, not the producers, the OWNERS. The biggest cry is from those who create NOTHING. They just OWN it. Who are the REAL freeloaders in this debate?
Explosion of piracy? You sound like a PR statement from the RIAA front desk. They are making billions. Still raking it in.. and by the way, increasing sales, in the face of "the explosion of piracy." How can they explain this? Well, they'd be making TRILLIONS if it weren't for those bastard college students. In other words, they don't. Don't look at how much we are making. Look at how much we claim to be losing. (That's another debate entirely.)
Every technological advancement has been met with the same brand of resistance and sometimes even from the same people (MPAA and VCR, anyone?) Every time the content providers adapt and innovate, they tap into yet another stream of revenue. Every time they stifle, legislate, sue, and whine, they disappear. It's called progress. Get on the train, or be left at the station. Sad thing is, the current content providers want to obliterate the train and the station.
They won't innovate anymore. Now their course it to control. I am not a freeloader, but I am also not going to give up any control. The things these people are trying to control are worthless pieces of entertainment that are not essential to your or my daily life. The sooner people realize this, the sooner the importance of this whole debate will return to the level it should. These providers aren't making anything we can't live without.
I for one would rather do without than to live under someone else's control. Nothing they have is worth losing your freedom over. Nothing.
Yeah right. Sign the receipt? Try sending the original receipt, the UPC barcode from the product's box, a stool sample, and a photo of your firstborn.
Then, MAYBE, you've got all of it right, and you can mail it. After about 3 weeks, you get a letter saying you didn't have all the proper information, and the rebate's null.
What proper info? Dunno... guess the photo of the firstborn was too ugly....
No, you cannot as another person get my SSN without my authorization. Sure there are ways around it, but it's NOT like getting my phone number out of the phone book.
If someone can steal information from ChoicePoint, and become effectively me on paper, it IS my personal information.
True, but my credit information and my SSN are not public records. They have that data. If I can "authorize" them to have it by applying for credit or a job, then I can certainly "deauthorize" them when I am certain they do not take good care of my personal information.
Sometimes it takes more than a polite letter, but these companies should not be allowed to run roughshod over anyone's data. Their liability in this breach of security should be complete and the punishment severe, both financially and criminally.
Now, I realize that's a pipe dream, but the point is, if they're going to keep my data, they better do it right and treat it like their own data, or they can't have it anymore.
I wonder why that's never been proposed in Congress?
I just heard from them, after 3 emails and noting I was contacting my state's AG, I got a reply saying all my data was being deleted at my request.:)
Just be persistent, firm, refrain from profanity, and send a letter to your state's AG complaining of the company....
Worked for me.:)
The first time I got an email back saying I had to use a Do Not call list from the DMA website, but I replied back to that email with a firm request that I wanted my data OFF their servers. Of course, I have no way of knowing they did it, but it is nice that my firm letter notifying my state's AG of their practices was enough of an incentive to get them to do something.
They don't have to. A product that is revealed before the release date by an employee of Apple could violate an NDA that they signed as a condition of employment. If their company policy (which I am sure is available somewhere) states that employees are not to disclose private company information before it is authorized to do so, then they have implicitly given evidence. The "reasonable man" test is easy here. Every company has some sort of NDA agreement with its employees. It's no "shock" that Apple would have one as well. A factory worker in China isn't likely to surf over to Thinksecret and give out some juicy details of the new miniature Mac he put the screws into the other day... That just doesn't seem likely.
Every email I get at my job that is internally generated has an NDA disclosure information text on it. Any company document I get that isn't for non-employee eyes is clearly marked "confidential." I can be fired for revealing it, and if it causes enough economic harm, I can be held liable for that harm. Not that I would ever leak any information. Some of it's REALLY silly stuff, but they put the stamp on it anyway. That's just how companies work I suppose.
ThinkSecret's "journalist" credentials are suspect here, and this situation is going to give anyone with a blog new bravado. It might not be what people who are defending TS are expecting, either. It might be better in the long run, but in the short term, it's going to be a mess until it's really sorted out.
That'll work great. Tell the pizza delivery guy who makes money with his car that he has to pay an extra $XXX in taxes for "road use" over what he already pays in fees/services through his rent. That'll create a great amount of equality in our society.
They cannot maintain the roads they have because they use the cheapest, crappiest, lamest materials on the planet that have a shelf life shorter than fresh eggs.
Remember that material developed by Philips 66 or Shell back in the 70's that was supposed to last 100 years and was rolled out in sheets?
Where'd it go? If they're going to gouge me for using the roads, by God, they're going to make them out of shit that doesn't develop holes 3 DAYS after it was paved!
In other words: USE THE MONEY I ALREADY GIVE YOU MORE WISELY before BUGGING ME ABOUT IT AGAIN.
If I'm right about this, and Microsoft does continue selling the
XBox 2 at a loss anywhere near the scale of the XBox-- this seems to mean Microsoft simply doesn't, and never has, cared about profit with the XBox, their "it'll make money eventually" profits aside. Microsoft can sell at some loss and still make a profit, of course, technically, maybe, but the chances of this are so shaky it shows profit isn't actually a goal-- just a nice potential side effect, not something Microsoft H&E really cares about attaining.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this one. Microsoft is shoehorning its way into the living room, however much it costs. They want what Sony and Nintendo have (more of what Sony has, with the other divisions in addition to gaming), which is a shot at being the interface between the fat guy on the couch and his TV. Microsoft wants to break into the content business. I think they're positioning their consoles as a placeholder for PVR, DVD-on Demand, and the like. Devices that will power the next generation of home entertainment for the easily amused.
It puts into perspective their eagerness (more than usual) to get out their media licenses and whatnot. Vendor lock-in on a scale not seen since Ma Bell is what Billy G's after.
Glad I don't much like new movies or games...;) heheh.
No, that's a Windows computer. Try getting right-click to work when Explorer's "thinking" about something. Then the damn thing flashes the context menu all over the place.:) Now that's a fun and happily ergonomic way to use an OS.
Everyone's such a troll about this whole thing.... It WAS funny, but still. It's getting old. So what? One button? Who cares? How many people still use the pack-in mouse they got with their Wintel PC? If they did, there'd certainly be no market for replacement mice would there? Look at the aisle in CompUSA.. SOMEONE'S buying replacement mice. And they're not just "like the one they got with their Dell", either. They're fancy wireless optical monstrosities with 20 buttons.
If you don't like the Mac mouse, go spend $19 on an MS cordless optical.
*shrug* I still use my G4 pack-in mouse. My G5's got a nice optical cordless, simply because the cord kept tangling.
Seriously, though... give it a rest with the one button thing. It's an OLD joke.... that has been lame for years....
For every "crucial caused problems", there's another "crucial is the best..."
Everyone should take these anecdotes with the "YMMV" tag.
I have nothing but crucial ram in my G4 and G5 (I replaced all the ram on the G4), and have had no problems at all with it.
But, as I said... YMMV. I trust crucial, because after 10 computers and 2 different architectures (PC and Mac), I've never had a stick of crucial ram go bad or come to my house bad.
It happened in my pissant town in Texas too, though it was Comcast who was the offending party more than SBC.
When comcast bought the local cable provider from some company in Georgia, they promised broadband and new channels. For years, broadband was "just around the corner", and we should be patient. Well, the city owned power company decided to get into the cable business as well, offering digital cable and broadband at fairly affordable prices. Wouldn't you know it, not three months after the vote to start a cable company was in, broadband magically appeared from Comcast, as if by some divine miracle... it was available city-wide in a matter of weeks.
SBC fumbled the ball so badly with DSL service that it's amazing they even bother (70% of the town doesn't have DSL access). But, I don't care... cheap broadband is available, and it only took competition to get it. Amazing what the market can do to motivate the primary player in a community.:)
Since the Bells got HUGE incentives from the government to build lines all around (and that included fiber), they should not get to claim 100% ownership, and allow them to be used by any company that wants to with a modest fee (go back to the old rule that prevented gouging). Otherwise, the Bells will still charge out the wazoo for crappy service, while keeping the Cable companies at bay (until such time as the Bells decide to offer TV over their fiber lines...) It's amazing that the Cable companies aren't helping "the other guy" more, knowing that they are next on the list to be shoved to the curb.
Microsoft couldn't get a handle on satisfying the customer to save their skins. People use it now because it's what has become "standard". Which sucks, I know, but it's not because Microsoft is good at anything.
It just means Microsoft has beaten to death any of their competition.
It DOES matter what we think about a company's motivation. Microsoft has been found to be a monopoly that used (and uses) illegal tactics to secure market share. Apple hasn't.
The first time Apple does, then we can talk about it.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly.... Why the hell is it such a big deal that Apple provide interoperability, when Microsoft snubs its nose at every company who wants to know about their FILE formats.
:)
This sort of double-standard is quite repugnant.
We can't get Congress to do JACK SQUAT to punish the GUILTY AS SIN Microsoft Monopoly, but we can spend our time worrying that Apple's iTunes store won't allow other players in on the bonanza? So much for free-market government. It's only a "free" market if they're paying the politicians it seems.
Even the Napster CEO has it right, and his company would stand to benefit from this... LET THE MARKET decide...
Bah. Politicians just moved above child molesters on my list of people to kill first when I become supreme overlord of this planet.
The converse is also true. Not supporting DRM-based things like iTMS or Napster will cause the companies to conclude (falsely) that it's all P2P's fault. Then it will be THEY, not the computer or software companies, who lobby to make DRM and restrictive computing law. Do you think the software industry really lobbied that hard for the DMCA? Sure some might've (Microsoft), but in the long run it will be the content conglomerates who are best served by such a move.
:)
I guess by our arguments, we can't win either way. Bah... just learn to enjoy life without their content.... then when it becomes impossible to get, you won't miss it.
Yes their will be a way. Burn it to a CD, then rip it to MP3. Apple can explode tomorrow and the music will still play and can be made DRM-free. Apple tells you when you're done downloading "enjoy your music. Back it up to CD..." So why not listen, rather than claim it's just another DiVX?
:)
Yeesh.. you windows fanboys are always looking for something to blame Apple about..
P2P is what drives the companies to create lockdowns. CD Burners drive their desire to lock down their content. Hell, a guy with a sharp stick could probably convince these technophobes that trees were causing rampant piracy, and they'd lobby congress to clearcut the US. They fear losing their grip on our wallets.
We all remember of course, two VCRs hooked together drove them to insert Macrovision (mustn't dupe tapes!!!) So, no matter how miniscule the problem might be (P2P is a specter of their own making. They give it life by being so afraid of it, trying to stomp it out, and giving it LOADS of free press), they will try to lock things down. It's in the companies' nature to do so. Why? They feel exactly one-sided about the whole issue. To them, it's a win-lose situation. Each pirated copy of something to them is a lost sale. We know this to be false, but they persist. Technology has overtaken their cartel model of doing business, and they don't like it. Just like the rise of the printing press gave illuminators ulcers.
So, as we've seen throughout history, they invent the "evil customer" theory that basically drives the users to give the companies a big finger and go get the content from their friends or P2P. Yes, there are people who will want something for nothing, even if CD's cost $.05. But those are not the people the companies are out to get. They want the casual consumers, who value convenience over principle. Why? So they can lock them inside their giant Pay-Per-View-Rent-only box. We, who couldn't care less about the content being shoved into the airwaves these days, are on the outside of the box, using non-approved browsers and "non-trusted" OSes. That's their perverse utopia. And they would rather we all rot, so their ROT-13 complexity DRM will keep Joe Sixpack from trying to get his Travis Tritt compilation to his pickup truck without paying the "transfer fee."
On a related note, Boycotting has become useless simply because not enough people will do it. And even if there were enough to affect some sort of economic impact, it is inevitable that by boycotting, we inflate the irrational fear of P2P by not making their sales go up each year. (Ironically, their industry, entertainment, is not subject to the laws of economics as all other industries are... somehow they're special... just ask them).
You're right about one thing though. You'll NEVER convince corporations to forget about DRM.
I'll remember that when you have all your rights taken.
I'll remember you didn't think it was a big deal. Like I said, if you had bothered to read, I don't care about the music. I care about the BIGGER picture.
But then again, you're the one claiming this isn't a crisis. Go back to your Reality TV and beer. Nothing more for you to see here...
"it isn't a matter of "Just by a CD or get your music 'somwhere else' and shut up." Fighting the indiscriminate appropriation of consumers legal rights by companies use Digital Rights Restriction technology is an important moral and legal issue."
True. It is. Personally I couldn't care less if they locked up all the music in the world. I am much more worried about the bigger picture, as you say. I don't know if I fight enough. But I write, and I try to inform. But no one listens. Quite frankly, not many of us are fighting the onslaught. No one cares, because they can still sit back in their vinyl chair and watch boobies from satellite with their 55" TV they bought at 22% interest from Best Buy.
Ask anyone not a regular reader of Slashdot what they're doing to send Orrin Hatch a clear message to leave our computers alone. They'll look at you as if you're eyes just fell out. Ask them if they're fighting Trusted Computing. They won't have an inkling of what you're on about. Ask them if they hate the draconian licensing scheme of Windows XP. They don't care. Ask them what the perpetual copyright is doing to our Public Domain... Ask them why we are constantly giving up our individual rights for the rights of a faceless corporation. As long as the mob has their reality TV and buckets of beer, they won't lift a finger.
I wish more of us were proactive. I wish I did more, honestly. The world is in need of some no-doze because the planet's spiraling out of control.
I can only hope the line that wakes up the unwashed masses isn't too far down the road. But, in the smaller picture... it's just music. I don't necessarily give two monkeys about it anyway.
Seek counseling... throwing any object at a wall shows you're compensating for an unfulfilled childhood wish. If I was your boss and you threw my company equipment at a wall, the next thing going at the wall would be your pinkslip.... :)
Macs are fine. Just because you can't go to Fry's and get a PPC chip off the shelf (that's been returned 4 times already) doesn't make them proprietary.
What exactly is "pure" engineering? We use Powermac G5's with YDL and are engineering some serious PPC based hardware for our customers...
Guess things DO change....
Poor LEGACY hardware support, you mean?
Seen a Dell lately? Missing some key items... and will miss more as they phase out the legacy. Macs just phase out legacy hardware quicker.
You don't have to upgrade your OS every 6 months. No one is forcing you to use Panther. Just like no one is forcing you to use XP... wait.. Microsoft is trying harder to get you to use XP...
Macs are infinitely more functional than a beige box PC. Sorry... having used both... from DOS 3.31 to Windows XP, I can say the Mac with OS X is much more useful.
I gave away my Windows PC to my cousin when I got my Powermac. It was useless and a pain to use after using OS X. I am forced to use an XP machine at work, because IT thinks microsoft is still worth fiddling with....
Easy to fix. Unlike SunOS. :)
... don't feed the trolls.
I have no use for Linux anymore except as a server. I can just say if you are able to judge means of a person based on whether or not they are going to use a Linux machine, you are kidding yourself. And you must not have programmed more than "hello world" for the Mac, because it's not a pain to program at all.
But then again...
DRM is a technological solution to a social problem. It's been said many times before, but it's still true.
The problem with the Big labels' acceptance of the "new" business model like Napster (subscription) is that if they could, they'd rent you content and charge per use. A "pay-per-view" society is the content providers' wet dream. A funnel of money coming from your wallet and going to their bank account each time you turn on your TV, read a newspaper, or get on the internet.
Don't think that's what they want? DiVX was a piss-poor version of what they REALLY are after. You not having a physical copy of anything, and they controlling both ends of the pipe.
Can't do it? No, not yet they can't. But Trusted Computing and the legislation to back up their lockdown (DMCA anyone?), and they, not you, are in control. Each step is making it harder and harder for people to exert their rights over the rights of content owners, not the producers, the OWNERS. The biggest cry is from those who create NOTHING. They just OWN it. Who are the REAL freeloaders in this debate?
Explosion of piracy? You sound like a PR statement from the RIAA front desk. They are making billions. Still raking it in.. and by the way, increasing sales, in the face of "the explosion of piracy." How can they explain this? Well, they'd be making TRILLIONS if it weren't for those bastard college students. In other words, they don't. Don't look at how much we are making. Look at how much we claim to be losing. (That's another debate entirely.)
Every technological advancement has been met with the same brand of resistance and sometimes even from the same people (MPAA and VCR, anyone?) Every time the content providers adapt and innovate, they tap into yet another stream of revenue. Every time they stifle, legislate, sue, and whine, they disappear. It's called progress. Get on the train, or be left at the station. Sad thing is, the current content providers want to obliterate the train and the station.
They won't innovate anymore. Now their course it to control. I am not a freeloader, but I am also not going to give up any control. The things these people are trying to control are worthless pieces of entertainment that are not essential to your or my daily life. The sooner people realize this, the sooner the importance of this whole debate will return to the level it should. These providers aren't making anything we can't live without.
I for one would rather do without than to live under someone else's control. Nothing they have is worth losing your freedom over. Nothing.
Yeah right. Sign the receipt? Try sending the original receipt, the UPC barcode from the product's box, a stool sample, and a photo of your firstborn.
Then, MAYBE, you've got all of it right, and you can mail it. After about 3 weeks, you get a letter saying you didn't have all the proper information, and the rebate's null.
What proper info? Dunno... guess the photo of the firstborn was too ugly....
No, because Microsoft didn't build it. Apple builds the box and calls it a Macintosh.
It's a Mac running anything, because APPLE built it and APPLE calls it a MACINTOSH.
Think things through, people....
No, you cannot as another person get my SSN without my authorization. Sure there are ways around it, but it's NOT like getting my phone number out of the phone book.
If someone can steal information from ChoicePoint, and become effectively me on paper, it IS my personal information.
Get the difference?
Probably not.
True, but my credit information and my SSN are not public records. They have that data. If I can "authorize" them to have it by applying for credit or a job, then I can certainly "deauthorize" them when I am certain they do not take good care of my personal information.
Sometimes it takes more than a polite letter, but these companies should not be allowed to run roughshod over anyone's data. Their liability in this breach of security should be complete and the punishment severe, both financially and criminally.
Now, I realize that's a pipe dream, but the point is, if they're going to keep my data, they better do it right and treat it like their own data, or they can't have it anymore.
I wonder why that's never been proposed in Congress?
I just heard from them, after 3 emails and noting I was contacting my state's AG, I got a reply saying all my data was being deleted at my request. :)
:)
Just be persistent, firm, refrain from profanity, and send a letter to your state's AG complaining of the company....
Worked for me.
The first time I got an email back saying I had to use a Do Not call list from the DMA website, but I replied back to that email with a firm request that I wanted my data OFF their servers. Of course, I have no way of knowing they did it, but it is nice that my firm letter notifying my state's AG of their practices was enough of an incentive to get them to do something.
But she didn't know she was adopted.... Luke did.
She was probably thinking of Bail's wife....
So, that goes without saying that she thinks Organa's her biological parent.
They don't have to. A product that is revealed before the release date by an employee of Apple could violate an NDA that they signed as a condition of employment. If their company policy (which I am sure is available somewhere) states that employees are not to disclose private company information before it is authorized to do so, then they have implicitly given evidence. The "reasonable man" test is easy here. Every company has some sort of NDA agreement with its employees. It's no "shock" that Apple would have one as well. A factory worker in China isn't likely to surf over to Thinksecret and give out some juicy details of the new miniature Mac he put the screws into the other day... That just doesn't seem likely.
Every email I get at my job that is internally generated has an NDA disclosure information text on it. Any company document I get that isn't for non-employee eyes is clearly marked "confidential." I can be fired for revealing it, and if it causes enough economic harm, I can be held liable for that harm. Not that I would ever leak any information. Some of it's REALLY silly stuff, but they put the stamp on it anyway. That's just how companies work I suppose.
ThinkSecret's "journalist" credentials are suspect here, and this situation is going to give anyone with a blog new bravado. It might not be what people who are defending TS are expecting, either. It might be better in the long run, but in the short term, it's going to be a mess until it's really sorted out.
*shrug*
That'll work great. Tell the pizza delivery guy who makes money with his car that he has to pay an extra $XXX in taxes for "road use" over what he already pays in fees/services through his rent. That'll create a great amount of equality in our society.
They cannot maintain the roads they have because they use the cheapest, crappiest, lamest materials on the planet that have a shelf life shorter than fresh eggs.
Remember that material developed by Philips 66 or Shell back in the 70's that was supposed to last 100 years and was rolled out in sheets?
Where'd it go? If they're going to gouge me for using the roads, by God, they're going to make them out of shit that doesn't develop holes 3 DAYS after it was paved!
In other words: USE THE MONEY I ALREADY GIVE YOU MORE WISELY before BUGGING ME ABOUT IT AGAIN.
Until then, fuck off.
It puts into perspective their eagerness (more than usual) to get out their media licenses and whatnot. Vendor lock-in on a scale not seen since Ma Bell is what Billy G's after.
Glad I don't much like new movies or games...
No, that's a Windows computer. Try getting right-click to work when Explorer's "thinking" about something. Then the damn thing flashes the context menu all over the place. :) Now that's a fun and happily ergonomic way to use an OS.
Everyone's such a troll about this whole thing.... It WAS funny, but still. It's getting old. So what? One button? Who cares? How many people still use the pack-in mouse they got with their Wintel PC? If they did, there'd certainly be no market for replacement mice would there? Look at the aisle in CompUSA.. SOMEONE'S buying replacement mice. And they're not just "like the one they got with their Dell", either. They're fancy wireless optical monstrosities with 20 buttons.
If you don't like the Mac mouse, go spend $19 on an MS cordless optical.
*shrug* I still use my G4 pack-in mouse. My G5's got a nice optical cordless, simply because the cord kept tangling.
Seriously, though... give it a rest with the one button thing. It's an OLD joke.... that has been lame for years....
For every "crucial caused problems", there's another "crucial is the best..."
Everyone should take these anecdotes with the "YMMV" tag.
I have nothing but crucial ram in my G4 and G5 (I replaced all the ram on the G4), and have had no problems at all with it.
But, as I said... YMMV. I trust crucial, because after 10 computers and 2 different architectures (PC and Mac), I've never had a stick of crucial ram go bad or come to my house bad.
Because Guns are protected by the 2nd Amendment.
Lasers aren't. I agree it's silly to ban the lasers, but banning guns is against the very document that puts in print our rights.
Not privileges... rights. Rights that SHALL NOT be infringed. Ever.
Get over the gun issue. Don't like guns? Move or stay in Europe (whatever the case may be...)
It happened in my pissant town in Texas too, though it was Comcast who was the offending party more than SBC.
:)
When comcast bought the local cable provider from some company in Georgia, they promised broadband and new channels. For years, broadband was "just around the corner", and we should be patient. Well, the city owned power company decided to get into the cable business as well, offering digital cable and broadband at fairly affordable prices. Wouldn't you know it, not three months after the vote to start a cable company was in, broadband magically appeared from Comcast, as if by some divine miracle... it was available city-wide in a matter of weeks.
SBC fumbled the ball so badly with DSL service that it's amazing they even bother (70% of the town doesn't have DSL access). But, I don't care... cheap broadband is available, and it only took competition to get it. Amazing what the market can do to motivate the primary player in a community.
Since the Bells got HUGE incentives from the government to build lines all around (and that included fiber), they should not get to claim 100% ownership, and allow them to be used by any company that wants to with a modest fee (go back to the old rule that prevented gouging). Otherwise, the Bells will still charge out the wazoo for crappy service, while keeping the Cable companies at bay (until such time as the Bells decide to offer TV over their fiber lines...) It's amazing that the Cable companies aren't helping "the other guy" more, knowing that they are next on the list to be shoved to the curb.
Sounds like Microsoft doesn't it?
The big difference here is, I can run X11 apps if I want... and I can code a freely distributable Cocoa app if I want...
In Microsoft's world, I can well, just be stuck.
I for one choose Apple's "proprietary" any day of the week.
Microsoft couldn't get a handle on satisfying the customer to save their skins. People use it now because it's what has become "standard". Which sucks, I know, but it's not because Microsoft is good at anything.
It just means Microsoft has beaten to death any of their competition.
It DOES matter what we think about a company's motivation. Microsoft has been found to be a monopoly that used (and uses) illegal tactics to secure market share. Apple hasn't.
The first time Apple does, then we can talk about it.