Vista is so bad. Hey, I work for Microsoft and I'll admit that Vista has a lot of ground to cover. It will drive people to alternative OSes
If you work for Microsoft you may want to let your bosses know that MS's restrictive licensing is already turning some Windows/Office users into switchers. For years I've used Windows, since Win95 almost exclusively, and Office however because MS is now treating it's users like criminals, and that's exactly what Activation, WGA, and WPA amoung others does, I am switching. Some months ago I got a desktop PC with Linux preinstalled and for a laptop I plan on getting a Macbook. If it hadn't been for MS tactics I probably would of stayed with Windows. And if anyone asks me for advance in getting a new PC or OS, after telling them why, I will recommend they get either a Mac or a PC with Linux.
the 33 1/3 LP format. With digital music, this concept is totally outdated and destined to die.
I hope not. I much prefer vinyl records over digital. However if I ever want digital I can easily rip and burn vinyl to digital. Recently I've seen new turntables in stores, some with usb ports built in. Even BestBuy has some turntables. I've been thinking of getting a new turntable myself but first I want to find a good one and make sure I can get stylus' for it as well as find a good reel-to-reel tape deck.
Has any one else noticed that there has been an increase in Vinyl sales?
While I haven't seen vinyl in new stores, though I know of two small stores that have them, I have seen turntables in them. Such as in BestBuy. Some of them even have usb ports built in.
Talking about "singles" indicates we're talking mostly about radio-play music and who the hell actually listens to that drivel?
I used to listen to radio a lot, that's how I learn about new artists and songs. For instance a few years ago I found a new radio station, well a station playing a new format at least, that played smooth jazz and I first heard Norah Jones on the station. Now I love her singing and have bought as well as have received as gifts some of her albums. If I never listened to the radio I never would have heard of her.
Radio isn't about to become crap. It is crap.
That really depends on what genera you like to listen to and what stations you listen to as well.
They would sell plenty of this, because people would need to re-build their library in the new format. Or replace a stolen collection. Or replace scratched or lost albums and discs. - Today? Just pull them off of your system backup. And no need to re-buy in a new format. I still have it in MP3 or OGG, thanks.
I used to do the analogue equivilent years ago. The first tyme I played a new vinyl record on my turntable I'd record it on my reel-to-reel tape deck. I'd then put the record away for safe storage and listen to the tape. I could do the same now, only add the steps of ripping and converting to ogg, wave, or whatever so I could take it with me when I go rollerblading.
The people who will lose out on this model are the one-hit wonders. In my opinion, that simple change will improve the quality of music by quite a bit as it's no longer easy to get away with selling crap.
One hit wonders will either disappear, in which case the quality won't be improved, or they will create more hits, improving quality. It could go either way.
When I was a teenager people either listened to "rock" music, "pop" music, or "punk" music.
Yea, it seems many if not most people are like that. Growing myself, I liked listening to different generas of music. Even now I like to listen to music from classical and classic rock to Zydeco.
With some artists, like the Beatles for instance, I like their singles. Their good stuff was really good, but their bad stuff was, well, crap.
I prefer albums generally, but especially those the Beatles released. My fav is "The White Album". While some songs I don't particularly care for I can't recall any I'd call crap. Admittedly not every band released albums where most if not all the songs were good but some did, like Alabama and ZZTop.
They want everyone just to listen to the same pop crap they forcefeed us all, and if you don't like it, well, don't listen to anything at all.
Yeap, that's why about the only tyme I listen to the radio is while driving. I used to listen to the radio a lot at home however the station I listened to mostly had the music format changed on me. I mostly listened to Smooth Jazz. I especially like Norah Jones and Niko Case. Now however the radio format is more like pop, top 40s, now.
I may start buying albums, vinyl albums, now though. That I know of there are two stores that sell vinyl records near me, one five minutes walk and the other 15. I just need to get a new turntable to play records on. I almost went and bought one on impulse when I looked at one of the albums one of the stores had, I don't recall what it is now but it was by Roy Orbison and had a few really good songs on it like "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay".
I like albums too, my fav being "The White Album". What I'd really like is what he iTunes store does, it allows you to create your own album. Unfortunately it's digital whereas I prefer vinyl records. If I want to I can rip it to digital later.
By them making themselves easy to find and offering you an opportunity that you don't find elsewhere, you may well be tempted to try something you'd never try otherwise.
Actually if they are offering downloads and they have the permission of the copyright owners then someone who downloads from them is breaking no copyright. For someone to break or infringe copyright then they must not have the permission of the owner however the owner did give permission.
That is why they need the scanner program that checks if you have OTHER copyrighted material on your machine that you have downloaded illegally, and this is something they might bust you for.
A problem with this though is that they don't know if you don't have the right to any file a scan finds. If they charge someone who does have a legal right to what's on thier computer it leaves them open to a lawsuit, or a counter lawsuit.
I'd have liked to see how they were trying to entice people to pirate movies
Same here. If they are enticing people to "illegally" download media it's wrong but if not it's different. If they had just set out a honeypot then I have no problem with it.
"Without megabucks you won't be able to buy a license, if you can get an open frequency."
While this is unfair and not supportive of truly free markets, it would not be protecting a monopoly if it were not for Clear Channel's complete domination of terrestrial radio.
Seeing as how Clear Channel Communications was only started in 1972, it's not necessarily responsible for a monopoly in broadcasting. It may be responsible for helping to maintain one but it's not for starting one.
And infact, I have been on the receiving end of the FCC. For a government agency, they respond very quickly to complaints. If only FEMA responded as quickly.
Yeap! It only takes a few complaints from Christian Conservatives for a broadcaster to be fined for "indecency".
The "right of way" for infrastructure use is enforcing the monopoly. In this case, the providers are not building the infrastructure, only using it -- therefore, it is no longer a natural monopoly situation and should be open to competition. They are not directly maintaining the infrastructure, but rather paying taxes on their income that does maintain that infrastructure. Since that's the case, no matter how many companies enter, the single shared infrastructure would be maintained and costs would be minimized with profit rates approaching the risk-free new money rate. The government is effectively providing an unfair monopoly in this situation, and is not looking out for consumer interests.
While I generally support a freemarket, in cases like this where a right of way for cables or whatever are needed I prefer a local group own it. That group may be the city or county government, or it may be a coop, or even a nonprofit the locals own. Whoever owns it then allows anyone who wants to to provide any services it is capable of, broadband access, cable tv, phone service, or anything else that comes down the road. A project like this is currently underway in northeastern Utah to provide a A Broadband Utopia. What they built could provide net speeds of 50Mbs to 100Mbs. A household could have two hdtv channels at once, or someone could simply provide phone service.
As for radio, TV, and such -- that is hardly a monopoly (outside of the Clear Channel case anyways) because you can have 20ish stations which provides plenty of competition... The FCC in this case isn't enforcing a monopoly so much as protecting the rights of a broadcaster to the frequency they have paid for.
Yea, if you think so try to start your own radio or tv station. Without megabucks you won't be able to buy a license, if you can get an open frequency. Current technology isn't that expensive and allows a lot of stations to use the spectrum, however the FCC uses rules for broadcasting made in 1934 when the FCC was created. A lot more stations can be setup in the same spectrum today than the technology avaiable then allowed. However the mass media doesn't want the rules to be changed so more stations can broadcast, more stations mean more competition which they don't like. Start a Pirate radio station and watch how quickly licensed radio stations in the area sick the FCC on you even when you aren't interfering with thier signal.
the original poster should look up economic terms before throwing them about.
All I can say is I'm glad I don't have anything important like games to dictate what OS I use.
Same here. I use a computer mostly for productivity purposes, news, and research with some communications thrown in.
I know it's off topic but did you hear about the UCCS ruling about that high school student in Alaska who contested being suspended by the principal when he wore a tshirt saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus'"?
Because MS is treating users of Windows like criminals I am switching. For a desktop I got a PC with Linux preinstalled and when I get a new laptop, hopefully in a week or two, I'll be getting a Macbook Pro.
do you really trust your host file on a Microsoft system? They're known for bypassing it specifically for that kind of stuff.
I hadn't thought of that, but wouldn't be supprized if Windows was able to bypass the host file on the machine. A way around that though is to use a hardware proxy or firewall. That of course leaves IPs addies not registered to MS. But then though the proxy or firewall can block IP addies that aren't "friendly", ie you don't know who it is.
Damn, I wish I had thought about MS bypassing host files because I use one to block ad networks like doubleclick, and MS may be getting into ad services. This gives me another reason, like I needed one (NOT!), for switching.
If this is nothing more than a way for Microsoft to ensure that Windows operates properly and to find potential issues, data collection should be an option. A lot of power users won't want it, and a lot of paranoid public won't either.
If this was nothing more than... then Microsoft wouldn't "monitor all the visited URLs of your offspring."
It's simple, just Run setup.exe, or if you want to push it out with Group Policy, run the associated.MSI file. How many ways to uninstall a program... Hmmmm, Add/Remove Programs.
Uhm, I've seen Windows software that does not have a way to uninstall it via Add/Remove, not without using Add/Remove to install it to begin with. And even using Add/Remove software to install then uninstall software can still lead to lots of junk left in the registery which causes it to become unstable. Heck Windows itself is unstable. The only Windows version I've used if not got that was stable was NT 4.0. It is the only Windows OS I have not had crash on me, then again it's the DEC Alpha version that I have and because it's an Alpha, FX!32 was a piece of crap, I haven't been able to get much software installed on it so I haven't used it much. Windows 2000 and XP are more stable? When I first used Win2000 it took only a few days before it crashed. And XP? The very first tyme I booted a PC with XP it froze during bootup. And it wasn't installed on some old knockoff PC, the PC was a brand new Dell the college I was attending had just got.
A package built for Debian 4.0, for example, will most likely install not install on Debian 3.1 at all if it has any non-trivial dependencies.
Hell, Windows is the exact same. If you don't have XP or Vista there's a good possibility a new app will not install on a Windows PC. Not being able to install new software in old OSes is a none valid argument, your other arguments may be valid but not this one.
Microsoft has to be liking what it is seeing, with every day a new distribution of Linux coming out, and no single standard. Different files in different places...
Microsoft does the same thing, every release of a new Office version has it's own formats. A.doc document from 1998 can be opened by Office XP but Office 98 can't open an Office XP document, at least not without mangling it. Meanwhile the different distros of Linux can still use the same apps as most other distros.
If they could see a way to make more money by working with Linux, they'd do that. Hell, they're not that stupid
If MS wanted only to make money then they'd support Linux as well as any and all other OSes. MS could make a pile of money on sales of Office for Linux but they won't release a Linux version, at least not for some tyme until they have to. That is one reason some hesitate to switch to Linux, they need Office compatibilty and know of no alternatives.
Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face is so appropriate. Both parties here are just trying to get more money out of the other.
This is only half right, Universal is trying to get more out of Apple, but Apple isn't trying to get more out of Universal. Universal wants iTunes to charge more for popular songs however Steve Jobs refuses to deviate from one price, two now with non-drm songs of better quality selling for a little more, for all songs.
As ATi learned, he has absolutely no problem with damaging his company in the short term if he thinks it will strengthen its position in the long term.
Though I don't have an opinion on whether Steve Jobs is doing this, I do prefer a company executive that looks, years down the road, to the future instead of to this or the next quarter. That's a shortsightedness it seems too many corporations have now.
I read the above, then I read your tagline, "Linux: a more elegant weapon for a more civilized time." What gets me is that Apple doesn't have a version, that I have heard of, of iTunes for Linux. Because OSX is built on BSD I'd think it wouldn't take much effort to port iTunes to Linux.
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Vista is so bad. Hey, I work for Microsoft and I'll admit that Vista has a lot of ground to cover. It will drive people to alternative OSes
If you work for Microsoft you may want to let your bosses know that MS's restrictive licensing is already turning some Windows/Office users into switchers. For years I've used Windows, since Win95 almost exclusively, and Office however because MS is now treating it's users like criminals, and that's exactly what Activation, WGA, and WPA amoung others does, I am switching. Some months ago I got a desktop PC with Linux preinstalled and for a laptop I plan on getting a Macbook. If it hadn't been for MS tactics I probably would of stayed with Windows. And if anyone asks me for advance in getting a new PC or OS, after telling them why, I will recommend they get either a Mac or a PC with Linux.
Falconthe 33 1/3 LP format. With digital music, this concept is totally outdated and destined to die.
I hope not. I much prefer vinyl records over digital. However if I ever want digital I can easily rip and burn vinyl to digital. Recently I've seen new turntables in stores, some with usb ports built in. Even BestBuy has some turntables. I've been thinking of getting a new turntable myself but first I want to find a good one and make sure I can get stylus' for it as well as find a good reel-to-reel tape deck.
FalconHas any one else noticed that there has been an increase in Vinyl sales?
While I haven't seen vinyl in new stores, though I know of two small stores that have them, I have seen turntables in them. Such as in BestBuy. Some of them even have usb ports built in.
FalconTalking about "singles" indicates we're talking mostly about radio-play music and who the hell actually listens to that drivel?
I used to listen to radio a lot, that's how I learn about new artists and songs. For instance a few years ago I found a new radio station, well a station playing a new format at least, that played smooth jazz and I first heard Norah Jones on the station. Now I love her singing and have bought as well as have received as gifts some of her albums. If I never listened to the radio I never would have heard of her.
Radio isn't about to become crap. It is crap.
That really depends on what genera you like to listen to and what stations you listen to as well.
They would sell plenty of this, because people would need to re-build their library in the new format. Or replace a stolen collection. Or replace scratched or lost albums and discs. - Today? Just pull them off of your system backup. And no need to re-buy in a new format. I still have it in MP3 or OGG, thanks.
I used to do the analogue equivilent years ago. The first tyme I played a new vinyl record on my turntable I'd record it on my reel-to-reel tape deck. I'd then put the record away for safe storage and listen to the tape. I could do the same now, only add the steps of ripping and converting to ogg, wave, or whatever so I could take it with me when I go rollerblading.
FalconThe people who will lose out on this model are the one-hit wonders. In my opinion, that simple change will improve the quality of music by quite a bit as it's no longer easy to get away with selling crap.
One hit wonders will either disappear, in which case the quality won't be improved, or they will create more hits, improving quality. It could go either way.
FalconWhen I was a teenager people either listened to "rock" music, "pop" music, or "punk" music.
Yea, it seems many if not most people are like that. Growing myself, I liked listening to different generas of music. Even now I like to listen to music from classical and classic rock to Zydeco.
FalconWith some artists, like the Beatles for instance, I like their singles. Their good stuff was really good, but their bad stuff was, well, crap.
I prefer albums generally, but especially those the Beatles released. My fav is "The White Album". While some songs I don't particularly care for I can't recall any I'd call crap. Admittedly not every band released albums where most if not all the songs were good but some did, like Alabama and ZZTop.
They want everyone just to listen to the same pop crap they forcefeed us all, and if you don't like it, well, don't listen to anything at all.
Yeap, that's why about the only tyme I listen to the radio is while driving. I used to listen to the radio a lot at home however the station I listened to mostly had the music format changed on me. I mostly listened to Smooth Jazz. I especially like Norah Jones and Niko Case. Now however the radio format is more like pop, top 40s, now.
I may start buying albums, vinyl albums, now though. That I know of there are two stores that sell vinyl records near me, one five minutes walk and the other 15. I just need to get a new turntable to play records on. I almost went and bought one on impulse when I looked at one of the albums one of the stores had, I don't recall what it is now but it was by Roy Orbison and had a few really good songs on it like "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay".
FalconI like albums too, my fav being "The White Album". What I'd really like is what he iTunes store does, it allows you to create your own album. Unfortunately it's digital whereas I prefer vinyl records. If I want to I can rip it to digital later.
FalconBy them making themselves easy to find and offering you an opportunity that you don't find elsewhere, you may well be tempted to try something you'd never try otherwise.
Actually if they are offering downloads and they have the permission of the copyright owners then someone who downloads from them is breaking no copyright. For someone to break or infringe copyright then they must not have the permission of the owner however the owner did give permission.
FalcvonThat is why they need the scanner program that checks if you have OTHER copyrighted material on your machine that you have downloaded illegally, and this is something they might bust you for.
A problem with this though is that they don't know if you don't have the right to any file a scan finds. If they charge someone who does have a legal right to what's on thier computer it leaves them open to a lawsuit, or a counter lawsuit.
FalconSecond, they are not leading these people to commit the crime. They are just holding the door open.
Where do you come with that? I've rtfa and I didn't see anwhere where it said one way or the other whether they were leading people or not.
FalconI'd have liked to see how they were trying to entice people to pirate movies
Same here. If they are enticing people to "illegally" download media it's wrong but if not it's different. If they had just set out a honeypot then I have no problem with it.
Falcon"Without megabucks you won't be able to buy a license, if you can get an open frequency." While this is unfair and not supportive of truly free markets, it would not be protecting a monopoly if it were not for Clear Channel's complete domination of terrestrial radio.
Seeing as how Clear Channel Communications was only started in 1972, it's not necessarily responsible for a monopoly in broadcasting. It may be responsible for helping to maintain one but it's not for starting one.
And infact, I have been on the receiving end of the FCC. For a government agency, they respond very quickly to complaints. If only FEMA responded as quickly.
Yeap! It only takes a few complaints from Christian Conservatives for a broadcaster to be fined for "indecency".
FalconThe "right of way" for infrastructure use is enforcing the monopoly. In this case, the providers are not building the infrastructure, only using it -- therefore, it is no longer a natural monopoly situation and should be open to competition. They are not directly maintaining the infrastructure, but rather paying taxes on their income that does maintain that infrastructure. Since that's the case, no matter how many companies enter, the single shared infrastructure would be maintained and costs would be minimized with profit rates approaching the risk-free new money rate. The government is effectively providing an unfair monopoly in this situation, and is not looking out for consumer interests.
While I generally support a freemarket, in cases like this where a right of way for cables or whatever are needed I prefer a local group own it. That group may be the city or county government, or it may be a coop, or even a nonprofit the locals own. Whoever owns it then allows anyone who wants to to provide any services it is capable of, broadband access, cable tv, phone service, or anything else that comes down the road. A project like this is currently underway in northeastern Utah to provide a A Broadband Utopia. What they built could provide net speeds of 50Mbs to 100Mbs. A household could have two hdtv channels at once, or someone could simply provide phone service.
As for radio, TV, and such -- that is hardly a monopoly (outside of the Clear Channel case anyways) because you can have 20ish stations which provides plenty of competition... The FCC in this case isn't enforcing a monopoly so much as protecting the rights of a broadcaster to the frequency they have paid for.
Yea, if you think so try to start your own radio or tv station. Without megabucks you won't be able to buy a license, if you can get an open frequency. Current technology isn't that expensive and allows a lot of stations to use the spectrum, however the FCC uses rules for broadcasting made in 1934 when the FCC was created. A lot more stations can be setup in the same spectrum today than the technology avaiable then allowed. However the mass media doesn't want the rules to be changed so more stations can broadcast, more stations mean more competition which they don't like. Start a Pirate radio station and watch how quickly licensed radio stations in the area sick the FCC on you even when you aren't interfering with thier signal.
the original poster should look up economic terms before throwing them about.
That was my point as well when I replied to you.
FalconAll I can say is I'm glad I don't have anything important like games to dictate what OS I use.
Same here. I use a computer mostly for productivity purposes, news, and research with some communications thrown in.
I know it's off topic but did you hear about the UCCS ruling about that high school student in Alaska who contested being suspended by the principal when he wore a tshirt saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus'"?
FalconBecause MS is treating users of Windows like criminals I am switching. For a desktop I got a PC with Linux preinstalled and when I get a new laptop, hopefully in a week or two, I'll be getting a Macbook Pro.
Falcondo you really trust your host file on a Microsoft system? They're known for bypassing it specifically for that kind of stuff.
I hadn't thought of that, but wouldn't be supprized if Windows was able to bypass the host file on the machine. A way around that though is to use a hardware proxy or firewall. That of course leaves IPs addies not registered to MS. But then though the proxy or firewall can block IP addies that aren't "friendly", ie you don't know who it is.
Damn, I wish I had thought about MS bypassing host files because I use one to block ad networks like doubleclick, and MS may be getting into ad services. This gives me another reason, like I needed one (NOT!), for switching.
FalconIf this is nothing more than a way for Microsoft to ensure that Windows operates properly and to find potential issues, data collection should be an option. A lot of power users won't want it, and a lot of paranoid public won't either.
If this was nothing more than... then Microsoft wouldn't "monitor all the visited URLs of your offspring."
FalconIt's simple, just Run setup.exe, or if you want to push it out with Group Policy, run the associated .MSI file. How many ways to uninstall a program... Hmmmm, Add/Remove Programs.
Uhm, I've seen Windows software that does not have a way to uninstall it via Add/Remove, not without using Add/Remove to install it to begin with. And even using Add/Remove software to install then uninstall software can still lead to lots of junk left in the registery which causes it to become unstable. Heck Windows itself is unstable. The only Windows version I've used if not got that was stable was NT 4.0. It is the only Windows OS I have not had crash on me, then again it's the DEC Alpha version that I have and because it's an Alpha, FX!32 was a piece of crap, I haven't been able to get much software installed on it so I haven't used it much. Windows 2000 and XP are more stable? When I first used Win2000 it took only a few days before it crashed. And XP? The very first tyme I booted a PC with XP it froze during bootup. And it wasn't installed on some old knockoff PC, the PC was a brand new Dell the college I was attending had just got.
FalconA package built for Debian 4.0, for example, will most likely install not install on Debian 3.1 at all if it has any non-trivial dependencies.
Hell, Windows is the exact same. If you don't have XP or Vista there's a good possibility a new app will not install on a Windows PC. Not being able to install new software in old OSes is a none valid argument, your other arguments may be valid but not this one.
FalconMicrosoft has to be liking what it is seeing, with every day a new distribution of Linux coming out, and no single standard. Different files in different places...
Microsoft does the same thing, every release of a new Office version has it's own formats. A .doc document from 1998 can be opened by Office XP but Office 98 can't open an Office XP document, at least not without mangling it. Meanwhile the different distros of Linux can still use the same apps as most other distros.
FalconIf they could see a way to make more money by working with Linux, they'd do that. Hell, they're not that stupid
If MS wanted only to make money then they'd support Linux as well as any and all other OSes. MS could make a pile of money on sales of Office for Linux but they won't release a Linux version, at least not for some tyme until they have to. That is one reason some hesitate to switch to Linux, they need Office compatibilty and know of no alternatives.
FalconCutting off one's nose to spite one's face is so appropriate. Both parties here are just trying to get more money out of the other.
This is only half right, Universal is trying to get more out of Apple, but Apple isn't trying to get more out of Universal. Universal wants iTunes to charge more for popular songs however Steve Jobs refuses to deviate from one price, two now with non-drm songs of better quality selling for a little more, for all songs.
FalconAs ATi learned, he has absolutely no problem with damaging his company in the short term if he thinks it will strengthen its position in the long term.
Though I don't have an opinion on whether Steve Jobs is doing this, I do prefer a company executive that looks, years down the road, to the future instead of to this or the next quarter. That's a shortsightedness it seems too many corporations have now.
Falconfine.
I read the above, then I read your tagline, "Linux: a more elegant weapon for a more civilized time." What gets me is that Apple doesn't have a version, that I have heard of, of iTunes for Linux. Because OSX is built on BSD I'd think it wouldn't take much effort to port iTunes to Linux.
Falcon