>> Why should *you* have a 5GB cap and expensive overage charges to watch Netflix while someone watching AT&T's service every day can use up 50GB a month and pay nothing extra?
OK well firstly *I* dont. I have TMob and they have their equivalent. I suspect all services are obliged to offer some equivalent or will just be uncomepetitive and die.
>> So AT&T is using your money to subsidize users of its own video streaming service.
>> Can't speak for ATT but my plan bill hasn't gone up in years. Even before BingeOn came along they were charging the same, so no I'm not paying for anyone else anymore than I already was.
>> Maybe you don't care about streaming video, but will you care when it expands to other things? When Bing queries at fast, but Google queries are slowed down since AT&T has a partnership with Bing.
IF they start doing that then yes that would be bad and I would complain/vote with my wallet.e. AFTER they actually do something bad. They haven't done it in the (5 years?) BingeOn has already been out though so why do you believe it will start anytime now?
Phone companies raising the price for data is a whole other issue. It follows that it would probably be their next step, but that would be the time to complain, not when they are giving you something extra for nothing.
OK I'm going to play Devil's advocate here. it seems to me that if they want to not count bandwidth for certain services against your allowance, that can only be a good thing. I mean you're actually still free to use the other services if you want. I'd have an issue if they tried blocking competition completely but as long as you ultimately have a free choice its no worse than Microsoft having their any of their browser/search engine/storefront/whatever open by default on Windows, until you explicitly choose an alternative.
MSC are meant to be all about transportation for resupply. It does seem odd that a resupply group are supposedly interested in water temperatures and salinity levels, but it seems even more unlikely that particular branch would be spying.
No, in real life people aren't that boolean. By having people in the organization that personally believe global warming is real, it is inevitable that there will be different decisions/outcomes than made by people that don't, filling the same positions.
Yes but don't you see how this plays into their hands? If the people who believe climate change is real all stand up for it and get fired then they will just get replaced with more cronies. Its better to stay employed and do what you can from the inside.
>> I wouldn't change my modest lifestyle or even quit my government IT job.
I bet you actually would, but If I'm wrong and winning wouldn't change your life in any way, why would you even buy a ticket? I'm reminded of a street sweeper from my hometown who won the lottery. He won the equivalent of $10 million or so. Neither he or his wife quit their jobs. He lived in council-provided housing provided to the poor (the cheapest, nastiest smallest house you could imagine). All he visibly did with any of the money was to buy the house he already lived in, and put the rest in the bank. After he had won, his daughter got married, they held the reception at the cheapest place they could find that had a bar, and everyone had to pay for their own drinks. Seriously people like that don't deserve to win, because it changed literally nothing.
>> hopefully Microsoft gives us a way to stop the auto-download
Under Windows 10 I can't even choose what system updates it downloads or if/when they get installed. What makes you think that any company that even thinks that is OK in the first place, will give gamers any more choices?
Interesting. I definately think that a large part of what you say is true, but also I suspect that people such as Bill Gates that create an entire global company have ahard time letting go even though they have no need to go to work. I mean I think you also have to be the kind of person that derives pleasure from putting on a tie and going to an office every day for 8-10 hours. There apparently are plenty of people out there like that but that totally isn't me. I'd never be as rich as Bill Gates because after the first say $2 million hit the bank (or whatever amount I decided I need to live on reasonably sustainably) I'd walk out of the ratrace for good with no regrets and not even a second glance back. That doens;t mean that I would just sit at home all day though, or at least not work on some opensource project or something.
I agree that sitting at home all day will get quickly boring, but money represents freedom. If you don't need to work to live, then suddenly you can choose to work on what project makes you happy, not what earns money.
They've been holding onto this for so long that if they actually do ever come out with anything, there will allready be better stuff out. HTC, Oculus already are better not least because you can actually buy it, and Microsoft won't be standing still either.
...and also if they actually had anything interesting there wouldn't be any need for this level of wierd cloak and dagger secrecy around it. Its nothing but a total hype machine.
I've been hearing about the promise of Magic Leap for years now. So much so it become the Duke Nukem of the VR world. IMHO If they actually had anything cool and also on any level do-able it would have been in a product by now.
According to it, the headset they actually have is the size of a helmet, not the sunglasses thing that all the hype has made out, and the demo they posted on youtube over a year ago and claimed "they were playing in the office" was actually made with film studio special effects. If that is hot-air then I don't know what is.
Slashdot Mirror
>> Why should *you* have a 5GB cap and expensive overage charges to watch Netflix while someone watching AT&T's service every day can use up 50GB a month and pay nothing extra?
OK well firstly *I* dont. I have TMob and they have their equivalent. I suspect all services are obliged to offer some equivalent or will just be uncomepetitive and die.
>> So AT&T is using your money to subsidize users of its own video streaming service.
>> Can't speak for ATT but my plan bill hasn't gone up in years. Even before BingeOn came along they were charging the same, so no I'm not paying for anyone else anymore than I already was.
>> Maybe you don't care about streaming video, but will you care when it expands to other things? When Bing queries at fast, but Google queries are slowed down since AT&T has a partnership with Bing.
IF they start doing that then yes that would be bad and I would complain/vote with my wallet .e. AFTER they actually do something bad. They haven't done it in the (5 years?) BingeOn has already been out though so why do you believe it will start anytime now?
You realise that you can just switch to another carrier that is cheaper/has cheaper data right?
Phone companies raising the price for data is a whole other issue.
It follows that it would probably be their next step, but that would be the time to complain, not when they are giving you something extra for nothing.
OK I'm going to play Devil's advocate here.
it seems to me that if they want to not count bandwidth for certain services against your allowance, that can only be a good thing. I mean you're actually still free to use the other services if you want.
I'd have an issue if they tried blocking competition completely but as long as you ultimately have a free choice its no worse than Microsoft having their any of their browser/search engine/storefront/whatever open by default on Windows, until you explicitly choose an alternative.
MSC are meant to be all about transportation for resupply.
It does seem odd that a resupply group are supposedly interested in water temperatures and salinity levels, but it seems even more unlikely that particular branch would be spying.
...and thats another problem in itself.
>> People are not cogs that can be freely swapped. Their background and expertise matters.
Try telling that to companies like Amex where apparently any random Indian with an H1B is automatically qualified do your skilled software job.
Yeah about 200 of the most diehard liberal Hollywood celebs said they'd leave the country too... I''m still waiting and hoping....
No, in real life people aren't that boolean.
By having people in the organization that personally believe global warming is real, it is inevitable that there will be different decisions/outcomes than made by people that don't, filling the same positions.
Yes but don't you see how this plays into their hands? If the people who believe climate change is real all stand up for it and get fired then they will just get replaced with more cronies.
Its better to stay employed and do what you can from the inside.
Thankfully I remembered to download the entire Internet to a blank CD before I left for Chin++++NO CARRIER
Good luck with that. Big companies, especially the entertainment industry, already have the US government in their pockets.
>> I wouldn't change my modest lifestyle or even quit my government IT job.
I bet you actually would, but If I'm wrong and winning wouldn't change your life in any way, why would you even buy a ticket?
I'm reminded of a street sweeper from my hometown who won the lottery. He won the equivalent of $10 million or so. Neither he or his wife quit their jobs. He lived in council-provided housing provided to the poor (the cheapest, nastiest smallest house you could imagine). All he visibly did with any of the money was to buy the house he already lived in, and put the rest in the bank.
After he had won, his daughter got married, they held the reception at the cheapest place they could find that had a bar, and everyone had to pay for their own drinks.
Seriously people like that don't deserve to win, because it changed literally nothing.
>> hopefully Microsoft gives us a way to stop the auto-download
Under Windows 10 I can't even choose what system updates it downloads or if/when they get installed.
What makes you think that any company that even thinks that is OK in the first place, will give gamers any more choices?
Interesting. I definately think that a large part of what you say is true, but also I suspect that people such as Bill Gates that create an entire global company have ahard time letting go even though they have no need to go to work.
I mean I think you also have to be the kind of person that derives pleasure from putting on a tie and going to an office every day for 8-10 hours. There apparently are plenty of people out there like that but that totally isn't me.
I'd never be as rich as Bill Gates because after the first say $2 million hit the bank (or whatever amount I decided I need to live on reasonably sustainably) I'd walk out of the ratrace for good with no regrets and not even a second glance back.
That doens;t mean that I would just sit at home all day though, or at least not work on some opensource project or something.
I agree that sitting at home all day will get quickly boring, but money represents freedom.
If you don't need to work to live, then suddenly you can choose to work on what project makes you happy, not what earns money.
>> You forgot the 'IMHO'.
So did you.
They've been holding onto this for so long that if they actually do ever come out with anything, there will allready be better stuff out. HTC, Oculus already are better not least because you can actually buy it, and Microsoft won't be standing still either.
...and also if they actually had anything interesting there wouldn't be any need for this level of wierd cloak and dagger secrecy around it. Its nothing but a total hype machine.
> they have genuinely interesting technology.
I've been hearing about the promise of Magic Leap for years now. So much so it become the Duke Nukem of the VR world. IMHO If they actually had anything cool and also on any level do-able it would have been in a product by now.
Look at this article:
http://fortune.com/2016/12/09/...
According to it, the headset they actually have is the size of a helmet, not the sunglasses thing that all the hype has made out, and the demo they posted on youtube over a year ago and claimed "they were playing in the office" was actually made with film studio special effects. If that is hot-air then I don't know what is.
>> that's an actual, word.
Google has no hits for it.
This comapny is simply repeating the "Secure VC millions based on hot air then go bust on purpose" model of the dot com era.
The biggest difference is heat. A LOT of it.
No I dont want a phablet or something that old.
Time to identify the best phone with 3.5mm jack, SD slot and removeable battery and buy it.