As for the great wonderfulness of science, it is a coin with two sides. On one side we can travel the world in days be easily cured of previously deadly diseases, and drink Coca-cola cheap. On the other hand, we have managed to kill more people in this century through war than in all the other wars in human history. Both sides of the coin are made possible with science.
Actually, not to split too fine a hair, but what you are referring to is technology not science. Scientists are interested in investigating natural processes and the inter-relations therein. Technology is how we put them to use.
They're gonna try this because they are stupid and need to be dragged kicking and screaming into every new market that opens for them, but ultimately the power is in *our* hands because we have the money they want. When we stop buying DVDs that are overpriced and burdensome, they'll dump the DRM.
DRM isn't nearly as valuable to them as... say... having a market for them in the first place. When the returns start coming back to retailers from people like my mother-in-law, they'll relent.
This is actually more to the point. Music and movies are entertainment. Through advertising, RIAA and MPAA have tried to get everyone to think of movies and music as neccessities, which they most certainly are not. I stopped getting cable simply because it was too expensive and there is rarely anything good on anyway. I have a collection of movies and music, but I rarely buy any more because (1) most of what comes out is garbage anyway and (2) all of this new annoying control-freak nonsense. Even though it may be anathema to say this on/., a dvd of Return of the King is not that important. If their terms are too annoying, don't buy until they stop being annoying.
Where I work, I think they actually do it sensibly. They make you change your password every couple of months, but the system only remembers your last eight passwords. So, you only have to have a "variation on a theme" idea in your head that only you would know and remember in order to have enough passwords to cycle through every 1.5 years.
My wife mentioned that Taraka is making a handheld Universal Translator - when you speak into it - it will translate what you said into different languages or will translate what someone says into your language. Anyone heard about that?
Finially, a Linux is going to die story... in a couple years it'll be a linux is dead story... and it will be just like BSD.
Well, seeing how Solaris has this nasty tendency to take mental constructs and create physical manifestations of lost relatives, lost wife, etc., using a stabilized field of neutrinos, it will probably freak people out too much to really be able to take over Linux's market share.
Most places will have pizza delivery, Chinese food, and Walmart.
Well, pizza makes you fat (though I know it is the staple diet of enough/.'ers). The "Chinese food" is not really Chinese food. They are simply selling what a bunch of Americans with no taste will buy, and they always make it more fatty and oily than it should be. As for Walmart, who cares??? Don't you have any real stores?
I've lived in both rural and urban areas. I find it scary living in places like Centre County, PA and seeing the arrival of a new Red Lobster make the front page news (true story).
However, a good many patents are also given a public license, a $0 grant of use. The idea is not only valid but widely used.
But, patents are not like copyright which simply exist from the moment of creation. Obtaining a patent is a legal process which is time consuming and costly. While it is practical for a rich corporation with a flock of its own patent attorneys to file patent claims by the wheelbarrow full, the independent inventor may not have the means to file a single patent, even on a very lucrative invention.
Well, if you have ever tried to patent anything, the main cost is in the lawyer and not the filing. Plus, you can get what is called a small entity (or some similar name) status, which costs less. There is also a system whereby, for a smaller fee, you can register your invention without going through the whole patent process. Basically, you get absolutely no protection, but your invention (assuming your application is considered legitimate) is on record and can be used as prior art against someone who later files for a patent. Some companies use this system as sort of a "scorched earth" policy to keep other people from using an idea if they can't.
Take all of this with a grain of salt since IANAL or an expert in patents.
A new Hollywood blockbuster starring Kevin Costner, about a lone movie pirate and his merry #movies men, who rip movies from the rich to drive click-through web site traffic to support the poor.
And at some point, for no readily apparent reason, the Evil Hollywood computers explode as though they are filled with plastic explosives.
Like I said, I'm a photographer. I do a lot of weddings, and one of the services I like to offer my brides is to put their wedding photos in a slideshow on a DVD, set to music. Makes it really easy to show all their friends and family their photos, because you can just drop the disc in the player, and show it to everybody on the big screen.
Well, at first I thought I would like to put big-name songs on the DVD to go along with their photos. So I call up ASCAP, who manages the copyrights for just about every artist out there, and asked how much it would be to sync some big-name songs to my photos. I wanted to make about three copies of the DVD (one for the couple, and one for each set of parents). Try $50/song. Right...I'm only charging like $300 for the service as it is, and it takes a couple hours to set up one of these DVDs.
I believe most photographers and videographers can use this kind of music as long as they use a CD that the client has purchased. This should fall under fair use (though barely) since it is for private, personal use. A lot of wedding videographers I have seen do this and the RIAA haven't gotten Medieval on them yet.
This is just my understanding, though.
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Actually, not to split too fine a hair, but what you are referring to is technology not science. Scientists are interested in investigating natural processes and the inter-relations therein. Technology is how we put them to use.
This is actually more to the point. Music and movies are entertainment. Through advertising, RIAA and MPAA have tried to get everyone to think of movies and music as neccessities, which they most certainly are not. I stopped getting cable simply because it was too expensive and there is rarely anything good on anyway. I have a collection of movies and music, but I rarely buy any more because (1) most of what comes out is garbage anyway and (2) all of this new annoying control-freak nonsense. Even though it may be anathema to say this on /., a dvd of Return of the King is not that important. If their terms are too annoying, don't buy until they stop being annoying.
Where I work, I think they actually do it sensibly. They make you change your password every couple of months, but the system only remembers your last eight passwords. So, you only have to have a "variation on a theme" idea in your head that only you would know and remember in order to have enough passwords to cycle through every 1.5 years.
Actually, they will probably modify the original story a little and have the aliens all come from the planet Zeist.
Shaka, when the walls fell.
Well, seeing how Solaris has this nasty tendency to take mental constructs and create physical manifestations of lost relatives, lost wife, etc., using a stabilized field of neutrinos, it will probably freak people out too much to really be able to take over Linux's market share.
Most places will have pizza delivery, Chinese food, and Walmart. Well, pizza makes you fat (though I know it is the staple diet of enough /.'ers). The "Chinese food" is not really Chinese food. They are simply selling what a bunch of Americans with no taste will buy, and they always make it more fatty and oily than it should be. As for Walmart, who cares??? Don't you have any real stores?
I've lived in both rural and urban areas. I find it scary living in places like Centre County, PA and seeing the arrival of a new Red Lobster make the front page news (true story).
However, a good many patents are also given a public license, a $0 grant of use. The idea is not only valid but widely used.
But, patents are not like copyright which simply exist from the moment of creation. Obtaining a patent is a legal process which is time consuming and costly. While it is practical for a rich corporation with a flock of its own patent attorneys to file patent claims by the wheelbarrow full, the independent inventor may not have the means to file a single patent, even on a very lucrative invention.
Well, if you have ever tried to patent anything, the main cost is in the lawyer and not the filing. Plus, you can get what is called a small entity (or some similar name) status, which costs less. There is also a system whereby, for a smaller fee, you can register your invention without going through the whole patent process. Basically, you get absolutely no protection, but your invention (assuming your application is considered legitimate) is on record and can be used as prior art against someone who later files for a patent. Some companies use this system as sort of a "scorched earth" policy to keep other people from using an idea if they can't.
Take all of this with a grain of salt since IANAL or an expert in patents.
And at some point, for no readily apparent reason, the Evil Hollywood computers explode as though they are filled with plastic explosives.
Well, at first I thought I would like to put big-name songs on the DVD to go along with their photos. So I call up ASCAP, who manages the copyrights for just about every artist out there, and asked how much it would be to sync some big-name songs to my photos. I wanted to make about three copies of the DVD (one for the couple, and one for each set of parents). Try $50/song. Right...I'm only charging like $300 for the service as it is, and it takes a couple hours to set up one of these DVDs.
I believe most photographers and videographers can use this kind of music as long as they use a CD that the client has purchased. This should fall under fair use (though barely) since it is for private, personal use. A lot of wedding videographers I have seen do this and the RIAA haven't gotten Medieval on them yet. This is just my understanding, though.