I have a Platinum Edition DVD of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and they did some things that could satisfy purists and non-purists.
There are 3 versions of the film on the disc. Firstly, the original theatrical edition that means that if you want to watch what was first released at the cinema/on VHS, you can. Secondly, a 'work in progress' edition that was shown at the NY film festival - lots of non-coloured images/coffee stains etc. Thirdly, the Special Edition which includes "Human Again" which was a song added for the stage show and added in later (which as an add-on is quite entertaining and works with the rest of the film).
I imagine these versions were done by setting the film to just use different chapters, so parts could be added at different points.
Why can't Lucas do that? Give us the improved sounds and visual effects of the Sp. Editions, but give people a choice of Original or Pointlessly Remixed versions of the film.
PS If you've never seen the Platinum Edition of B&TB, do so. It's a great example of how to make a great DVD set.
I used to be on cable and had a PPV service, but when I looked at the price, it was 3UKP compared to 3.5UKP for a rental.
I never used the PPV as I felt that the discount just wasn't enough. I figure the cost of the guy running the local video club and the media production costs was more than 0.5UKP.
In addition, I could watch the film anytime I wanted in 24 hours, not at the time I chose on the PPV.
Treasure Planet absolutely bombed. That also means any Treasure Planet merchandise probably won't sell, kids won't want to see Treasure Planet characters at Disney World, Treasure Planet DVD sequels will be minor property, and I'm guessing that any company putting Disney stuff on their soft drinks will want to pay less next time.
All that Disney stuff in the stores relies on the films succeeding.
Add to that the 'buying presents' factor (much nicer to receive a present in a box) and the 'DVD good enough' factor.
The lesson learnt over CD was that people got something "good enough". CD was a massive improvement over vinyl for many people. DAT, DCC, MiniDisc offered marginal improvement.
DVD was a big improvement over VHS. The next thing will probably be a marginal improvement.
People like things to be physical. I like my shelf of DVDs, even though I sell a few occassionally as I run out. It's mine, I can play it when I want on any machine I want.
The problem this time is that there's a few people chasing Disney's market. In the early 80s, I can't recall any other major players in the kids animation market. Now, there's lots - Japanese companies, Dreamworks, Pixar.
If Disney go soft, someone else will take their crown.
However, that exclusion shrieks very loudly to me. If I was buying something from someone, I'd want that exclusion clarified in the contract in better terms than it is there.
I wouldn't want any exclusions on copyright - I'd want a full list of INCLUSIONS.
What I don't understand is the 'acquisition part' and how that sits with the 'copyrights owned by novell'. It certainly introduces a lot of doubt over SCO's claims of copyright ownership.
As for going back to people to qualify contracts - My advice is never, ever do this, unless you are on friendly terms with the client. You're just asking for a legal case. Clarification of contracts is what you do *BEFORE*. In this case, it's also quite dangerous. It's now public record that SCO asked for clarification - I wonder if the courts will find that entertaining...
It's a bit like when companies rebrand and have a media blitz.
Keep saying the name and people will remember it. Also, there's a certain amount of trust in things that are big - in the sense that it will provide stability for people, tools will be written for it etc.
This week, I managed to speak to 2 non-techies about Linux as a 2 step follow on from the MyDoom virus issue. They showed a little interest in it, of the "so, is Linux any good?" and I just gave them a brief spiel about it.
Re:Testing industrial robots' collision detection
on
Dream Jobs of 2004
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· Score: 1
I don't know what it's called in the USA, but we have something in the UK called Robot Wars.
I kinda reckon the guys building the house robots have a darn good job. Watching them mash up the amateur creations must be big fun.
Re:dream jobs and being subjective ..
on
Dream Jobs of 2004
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· Score: 1
Some people may be thought to have dream jobs because it pays well in general(professional sports stars). Some people because it is something you wish you were paid for (professional gamers or err.. movie critics, if you like). Some may have dream jobs because you wish you were doing that job (it's description, at any rate.. some people entertain fantasies about being a photographer for a magazine like Playboy:p)
Thing is, a lot of the 'dream jobs' have their down sides, whether it be stalkers, lack of privacy, huge costs employing lawyers/agents for every bastard trying to drag you through the courts.
I personally couldn't live like Madonna or Tom Cruise (incidentally, I think both do what they do for the work, not the money).
Re:There's always worse.
on
Dream Jobs of 2004
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Tech people are some of the worst for this (including myself once upon a time!).
Moan like mad about everything from their pay to their training to the quality of coffee. The funny thing is that I've met people who do jobs that I would hate to do like working on checkouts or being janitors, and they love it.
I'd try and do something to break the tech poverty link, like create a training centre in my town. Initially, I'd fund it and start it up and then get either corporate or govt. sponsorship to keep it going (pref. the former as they wouldn't interfere as much!).
It's not the be-all and end-all of my existence, and only occassionally does it get in the way of my family life - often my own fault when I get obsessed with a fault to fix, rather than the boss'.
Sure, I'd rather not work - I'd rather spend all day with my family. But I can't. However, it has rewards that it gives me fresh challenges.
I look at it this way - on weekdays I spend 8 hours in the office each day and about an extra hour travelling. That's most of my waking day. Life's no rehearsal, so it had better be good for me to do that.
I think the author was saying "the search engine promotion business", not what is the right thing to do.
Many people try and get high rankings and will try and fool google to get their listings up. My experience with trying to find a florist for a particular town was a pain because there were sites set up which seem to deliberately have a page for each town and are just link pages to mail order florists (I prefer local for price and service).
People who just build a set of pages that say "Birmingham Florists" and list mail order companies and then say "York Florists" with the same list of mail order companies just piss me off, and I won't use the mail order companies who advertise on there.
What google could do with is a way of feeding back that sites are just link-farm garbage.
My first machine was a Timex/Sinclair machine. My second was an Amstrad 8256.
As a kid, I did a lot of stuff on them, mostly just tinkering. Some of the things I did were to do with like building a multi line input system like I'd seen on a mainframe at college (so you could tab to fields). It was all built in BASIC, but from it, I understood the concepts behind things.
Kazaa and the Sherman Networks people would be better off moving to somewhere like Yemen, China or Cuba, where even though you don't have some rights, I doubt they go busting down doors over copyright.
History teaches us that anyone who tries to get in the way of progress either gets a war against them or is bypassed. Or to put it in other terms "nature finds a way".
The USA was built on some principles of being a new, golden land. It's heading for decline into conservatism and corruption. I think that China and India will be the new superpowers.
Having to draft things, then give them to someone and type them ALL OVER AGAIN.
Modifications require typing it all out again.
I remember when my dad bought an Amstrad 8256 and it was fantastic at the time. None of the WYSIWYG features of office, but very quick and lean to use and suited writing my college essays.
It's also in my view a sign of wise people who understand technology know that there's often pain in changing and risk in changing.
There have been a number of occassions in my life where I've upgraded, got new features, and something I took for granted would be in the new product, isn't.
That doesn't wash with me. Ford are the Microsoft of the car world IMO. People buy them because of their ubiquitousness, not because they've really checked out the facts.
Subaru would be the comparison I'd use. Not huge, probably never going to be Toyota or Ford, but really excellent cars. Also, they don't register on the radar with most people.
Not all middle management are like that. Some are, some aren't.
Some are reaching for the skies, some just want to do the best they can and some want to keep seats warm. I've worked for all 3. Category 3 won't do anything to get Linux installed because it suggests risk and effort. They'd rather be able to say "everything works as bad/good as it always did".
However, some people get it. If I was a corporate middle manager, and you suggested using an OSS project, I'd want to know how it benefited us, what risks there were and our support options.
For instance, I recently had to choose a PDF library, and chose a commercial one because even though it was more expensive, the support from the company was great - and we needed it to be solid and well supported, not just get a load of RTFM posts.
However, I think I've been convinced by my programmer to use an OSS equivalent to SourceSafe, and cost isn't an issue - functionality is.
My advice, try and speak their language. If that don't work, find another job. If you are working for a seat warmer, leaving is often the best thing to do.
That's the current business model. What if someone made a console that was basically a sealed down PC box using small parts and put a fairly locked-down distro in.
The R&D costs would be quite small, and you could make money on the hardware.
Testing could be done through the community, particuarly as coders could easily hack in and start looking at the source code.
The box wouldn't prevent people doing things if they really wanted to, but for people who just wanted to do gaming, it would do fine.
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There are 3 versions of the film on the disc. Firstly, the original theatrical edition that means that if you want to watch what was first released at the cinema/on VHS, you can. Secondly, a 'work in progress' edition that was shown at the NY film festival - lots of non-coloured images/coffee stains etc. Thirdly, the Special Edition which includes "Human Again" which was a song added for the stage show and added in later (which as an add-on is quite entertaining and works with the rest of the film).
I imagine these versions were done by setting the film to just use different chapters, so parts could be added at different points.
Why can't Lucas do that? Give us the improved sounds and visual effects of the Sp. Editions, but give people a choice of Original or Pointlessly Remixed versions of the film.
PS If you've never seen the Platinum Edition of B&TB, do so. It's a great example of how to make a great DVD set.
I still don't understand why Lucas changed it except to paint Han as a more sympathetic character - a bit of a nicer rogue.
I never used the PPV as I felt that the discount just wasn't enough. I figure the cost of the guy running the local video club and the media production costs was more than 0.5UKP.
In addition, I could watch the film anytime I wanted in 24 hours, not at the time I chose on the PPV.
Treasure Planet absolutely bombed. That also means any Treasure Planet merchandise probably won't sell, kids won't want to see Treasure Planet characters at Disney World, Treasure Planet DVD sequels will be minor property, and I'm guessing that any company putting Disney stuff on their soft drinks will want to pay less next time.
All that Disney stuff in the stores relies on the films succeeding.
The lesson learnt over CD was that people got something "good enough". CD was a massive improvement over vinyl for many people. DAT, DCC, MiniDisc offered marginal improvement.
DVD was a big improvement over VHS. The next thing will probably be a marginal improvement.
People like things to be physical. I like my shelf of DVDs, even though I sell a few occassionally as I run out. It's mine, I can play it when I want on any machine I want.
If Disney go soft, someone else will take their crown.
But you could easily supply such a thing with the book?
Just putting a roof over them?
Enterprise could be a small mail order company, a medium sized engineering company or Amazon.com.
So, enterprise can mean operating on 1 small 386 type processor machine.
However, that exclusion shrieks very loudly to me. If I was buying something from someone, I'd want that exclusion clarified in the contract in better terms than it is there.
I wouldn't want any exclusions on copyright - I'd want a full list of INCLUSIONS.
What I don't understand is the 'acquisition part' and how that sits with the 'copyrights owned by novell'. It certainly introduces a lot of doubt over SCO's claims of copyright ownership.
As for going back to people to qualify contracts - My advice is never, ever do this, unless you are on friendly terms with the client. You're just asking for a legal case. Clarification of contracts is what you do *BEFORE*. In this case, it's also quite dangerous. It's now public record that SCO asked for clarification - I wonder if the courts will find that entertaining...
It's a bit like when companies rebrand and have a media blitz.
Keep saying the name and people will remember it. Also, there's a certain amount of trust in things that are big - in the sense that it will provide stability for people, tools will be written for it etc.
This week, I managed to speak to 2 non-techies about Linux as a 2 step follow on from the MyDoom virus issue. They showed a little interest in it, of the "so, is Linux any good?" and I just gave them a brief spiel about it.
I kinda reckon the guys building the house robots have a darn good job. Watching them mash up the amateur creations must be big fun.
Thing is, a lot of the 'dream jobs' have their down sides, whether it be stalkers, lack of privacy, huge costs employing lawyers/agents for every bastard trying to drag you through the courts.
I personally couldn't live like Madonna or Tom Cruise (incidentally, I think both do what they do for the work, not the money).
Moan like mad about everything from their pay to their training to the quality of coffee. The funny thing is that I've met people who do jobs that I would hate to do like working on checkouts or being janitors, and they love it.
I'd try and do something to break the tech poverty link, like create a training centre in my town. Initially, I'd fund it and start it up and then get either corporate or govt. sponsorship to keep it going (pref. the former as they wouldn't interfere as much!).
It's not the be-all and end-all of my existence, and only occassionally does it get in the way of my family life - often my own fault when I get obsessed with a fault to fix, rather than the boss'.
Sure, I'd rather not work - I'd rather spend all day with my family. But I can't. However, it has rewards that it gives me fresh challenges.
I look at it this way - on weekdays I spend 8 hours in the office each day and about an extra hour travelling. That's most of my waking day. Life's no rehearsal, so it had better be good for me to do that.
The BBC now have a download version that doesn't have any of the annoying ad crap
Many people try and get high rankings and will try and fool google to get their listings up. My experience with trying to find a florist for a particular town was a pain because there were sites set up which seem to deliberately have a page for each town and are just link pages to mail order florists (I prefer local for price and service).
People who just build a set of pages that say "Birmingham Florists" and list mail order companies and then say "York Florists" with the same list of mail order companies just piss me off, and I won't use the mail order companies who advertise on there.
What google could do with is a way of feeding back that sites are just link-farm garbage.
As a kid, I did a lot of stuff on them, mostly just tinkering. Some of the things I did were to do with like building a multi line input system like I'd seen on a mainframe at college (so you could tab to fields). It was all built in BASIC, but from it, I understood the concepts behind things.
History teaches us that anyone who tries to get in the way of progress either gets a war against them or is bypassed. Or to put it in other terms "nature finds a way".
The USA was built on some principles of being a new, golden land. It's heading for decline into conservatism and corruption. I think that China and India will be the new superpowers.
Having to draft things, then give them to someone and type them ALL OVER AGAIN.
Modifications require typing it all out again.
I remember when my dad bought an Amstrad 8256 and it was fantastic at the time. None of the WYSIWYG features of office, but very quick and lean to use and suited writing my college essays.
There have been a number of occassions in my life where I've upgraded, got new features, and something I took for granted would be in the new product, isn't.
Subaru would be the comparison I'd use. Not huge, probably never going to be Toyota or Ford, but really excellent cars. Also, they don't register on the radar with most people.
Some are reaching for the skies, some just want to do the best they can and some want to keep seats warm. I've worked for all 3. Category 3 won't do anything to get Linux installed because it suggests risk and effort. They'd rather be able to say "everything works as bad/good as it always did".
However, some people get it. If I was a corporate middle manager, and you suggested using an OSS project, I'd want to know how it benefited us, what risks there were and our support options.
For instance, I recently had to choose a PDF library, and chose a commercial one because even though it was more expensive, the support from the company was great - and we needed it to be solid and well supported, not just get a load of RTFM posts.
However, I think I've been convinced by my programmer to use an OSS equivalent to SourceSafe, and cost isn't an issue - functionality is.
My advice, try and speak their language. If that don't work, find another job. If you are working for a seat warmer, leaving is often the best thing to do.
The R&D costs would be quite small, and you could make money on the hardware.
Testing could be done through the community, particuarly as coders could easily hack in and start looking at the source code.
The box wouldn't prevent people doing things if they really wanted to, but for people who just wanted to do gaming, it would do fine.