Especially if the student is paying to go to the school. Dont these schools get tax breaks and other financial support from the government? What gives them the right to just own your thoughts?
I guess the lesson of the day is, progress is bad and keep your mouth shut kids. Dont invent anything. Dont contribute anything because in the end your contributions arent respected or protected unless you you go down that heartless road of "business as usual". Surround yourself with lawyers, become a legalese heart congestion like the rest of these greedy fucks who would rather own your ideas, than facilitate knowledge and learning.
Thats not my experience at all. My vista machines run 24-7 all year and they're solid.
Its slower than xp (we all know that by now) but i do like it better than xp in terms of ui features. I know little has really changed in the ui since xp but there are better ui workflows for searching folders, sorting/listing folders etc.
I hope all of this crap about 7 is true because it would be nice to have the performance of xp (or better) and a more powerful ui.
Linux just isnt in the cards for me... I ran redhat for a year or so (a few years ago) and while it worked, and i had wine setup etc... I found dependencies a pain to deal with and i never truely felt comfortable in linux due to it being different and something new to learn. I been working in 3d modeling & animation for 10+ years and I do photography now, so I have plenty to learn everyday. I always consider myself learning and refining my craft, and when it came down to it, i didnt want to spend time learning linux inside and out, when i could be spending that effort in ways to benefit my craft.
I guess it came down to a time management thing.
I do not hate linux and I'm tempted all of the time to try and run it at home but I think for now windows is fine.
"What we pay for is convenience. It doesn't just cost money, it costs your rights as well."
Giving up rights for convenience... sigh. Thats a road full of landmines.
One didnt have to give up rights to buy a CD in the same way one has to give up the right to dl a song. Well you say this is a fair trade for convenience, and I'm not sure thats the case.
Convenience, is having the ability to do whatever you want with the music/movies that you buy. I wouldnt consider DRM a convenience. I just dont see it as "giving up rights for convenience". If anything, DRM makes it very inconvenient because it takes away rights.
First off. Microsoft lost a major court case and as a result no MS Office or any other additional functionality will ever have a chance at becoming a standard component within the OS.
It also sounds like you want your PC to be running at 100% utilization at all times. I do 3d modelling and animation for a living. I use a lot of ram and a lot of cpu and gpu power. I'd rather have it available, than having it processing mysql crap in the background.
However I do agree with you, especially your statement about vista not being able to print or view most of MS's doc formats out of the box, notepad, ms paint, etc. It is rather ridiculous. Especially when you try a mac, and out of the box they read pdf, preview all kinds of graphic formats etc.
MS media player is still pathetic. Its amazing that they still cant get it right. Vista has a graphics viewer that cant view many graphic formats at all. Why do they bother?
Thumbnail previews are great, but theres no thumbnail previews for quicktime, 32bit tiffs, tga, pic, etc.
The zip functionality in Vista is just dumb.
Its just garbage that is all worthless and needs to be replaced by buying third party applications.
But again it does come back to the whole United States vs Microsoft trial, where MS was found guilty of bundling software, and using their monopoly muscle to put the little guy out of business.
Apple does all of the crap MS was guilty of and to this day, Apple is not subject to the same nonsense.
So we see a more complete experience in Mac OS.
Linux is a totally different beast. They're the old PC users... the guys that see computers as progressive instruments that have untapped potential and it is best to invent, create and provide the technology, for the sake of the progress of computers. A linux user is the kind of person that sees their PC as a tool they can use as is, or as how they see it because they understand that a PC should not be limited by some corporate mickey mouse dictatorship out to tell you what you can and cant do with your computer.
Thats not a shot at microsoft, because microsoft used to be of that mindset. Hell their entire company was founded on that idea.
I think its unfair to assume that MS hasnt had this kind of internal debate for sometime. They know deep down that if they cant provide a better, more well rounded experience than linux or apple, that they in time will run the risk of being irrelevant. Its not too far fetched. People are more dissatisfied with MS than ever. That does not mean MS cant pull a great OS out of their ass.
This is exactly my experience with Vista 64bit. I like Vista, there is a lot going for it, its very stable and the new ui workflow, search, and little things here and there make it worth running.
However you nailed my experience perfectly. These are the exact issues i have with Vista.
That statement is thrown around way too much. Its not true. Mac users do have something to fear, and Linux users do as well. All of these systems can be compromised. There is no such thing as security. Mac and Linux users have less to fear in terms of the general garbage that one runs into on a day to day basis on the net, but that does not mean they're safe from harm.
I'm sorry, I think BOB was hated sufficiently enough to have the hate last several years beyond WinME. In fact I think the healing began somewhere around "Mission Accomplished". Perhaps that's what George W. Bush was referring to?
All the security software in the world doesnt mean anything, if the user behind the PC doesnt know the complexities of the system and how it works in its entirety.
Even the experts get viruses but odds go way up when you have no clue as to what or how that magical computer thingy works.
Bravo. There it is folks. Leave it to the Australians...
Straight, no nonsense, cut through the bullshit clarity, with a wonderful touch of humanity. That little island breeds some pretty cool people don't it?
Its always funny how its the peasants fault. As if some worker who attaches windshield wipers to cars had the power to completely fuck up upper managements brilliant decision making. Hey i know its not easy making tough decisions... but when management fucks up, they should own up to it, deal with the consequences and move on. Not shit on the people that carry out managements orders. Shit rolls down hill, except its not trickle down economics, its not that piss. This is more along the lines of a giant 30 year backed up earth sized economy whale shit, that's going to rip through the collective assholes of all of us because someone was too busy enjoying all of the fat while the feeding poor the very expensive scraps.
Bravo.
Economics is like an ecosystem (hey look they even have eco in it... Gee folks I wonder why?) Look each countries economy is unique to its wealth, when you start playing outside your economy to profit within your economy, then your might as well be trying to breathe fire instead of oxygen. Its like mixing two unique entities that work on their own for whatever reason. You can only get away with so much mixing before the balance is upset and change is going to happen whether you want it to or not. It's just like the ecosystem, burn it all up, abuse it, and the system will chew you up and spit you out because you didnt CARE about the system. You cant abuse economics. These companies are learning it the hard way.
It's not the workers fault. They grew up in a country (any country)... They do their job, they know how much the cost of living is based on their environment. They are resources. It isnt the high prices they demand, but the standard of living and the cost of life within their own ecosystem... economy. You just cant juice the fucking thing and expect all of this be ok. It doesnt work.
I'll shit on the unions a bit too. Is it there fault? No... The unions became powerful at a time when they were very important and wealth was there, and more American workers were employed. They at the time negotiated fair standards at the time based on the economy.
Well now the economy is different. In fact its wildly out of balance and that is the problem. Should Union workers take less wages? SURE!... but only if management lowers their prices, and everyone else in this country lowers their prices and brings down the cost of living. Until then... The union should hold its ground.
If the system's broken, and the ultra wealthy refuse to budge, then why should the poor?
Everything needs to shift. The price of movie tickets cant go up, they need to go down folks and at the same time, film makers, movie stars etc need to make a lot less money. The whole scale needs to slide down across the board.
But the wealthy cant dare think of taking less profit! That would be insane! Cut workers instead. Thats the solution.
Capitalism is broken and everyone knows it. If the goal in the game is to get all of the money, then what do you do when you have all of it?
It becomes worthless.
Cash needs to flow.... Its an ECOSYSTEM (if you will).
Thats it... Blame the workers that live paycheck to paycheck. Its all their fault. Riiiigggggght.
Give me a break. What do you want from your fellow citizen? Slave wages for all?! Shall we disregard the concept of retiring and health coverage all together?
You may overwork and beat your illegal alien employees at work sir, but at the end of the day... they're living as 3rd world employees in a very expensive country.
Perhaps your right. More people should be poor, and only a very little few (protected by tax payer handouts, full of corruption, greed, heartlessness, and traitorous behavior)... They should enjoy the luxory of having healthcare. Only the wealth in old age, should enjoy the benefits of cancer treatment.
I'm all for juicing this world, if it benefits me. I'm with you my friend. Fuck them all and lets enjoy the fruits of ourselfishness. Our mass quantities of wealth will allow us to run our businesses wrecklessly without really any damage to our private jet collection.
Oh and if we get into trouble... wink wink, the government will bail us out with all of the tax dollars they take from our stupid workers who we pay shit and peanuts. HAHAHAHA We are the fucking gods of this earth, you and I... Thats not the world I want. Sorry.
Blame our wealth as a nation, our success, and the fact that we've put profit before all else. In the past 20 years, these companies have decided to put profit before even having a stable economy. For a while it worked, but the result is hitting us now. You just cant juice the books, cut major cost by hiring foreigners at slave wages and expect out of work Americans to buy your expensive products. It just doesnt work.
You cant take all of the jellybeans out of the jar, and expect more to be in there next week, without putting some back in tomorrow.
Its quite simple really. Our economy is failing because the corporations hire less Americans, while charging the same high prices. It just doesnt work because all of these businesses want to keep the high prices because it's great for profit, however at some point our economy needs to crash to level out. We have an expensive live style, compared to the amount of employeed workers and the wages they receive. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, and they're all buying products made in china where they pay laborers $3 dollars a week.
I laugh when i see $350 headphones from companies. Its fucking plastic, a simple speaker, and some wire... and its all made in china for less than $10 !!!
That is the problem. We can not live within our own country anymore because the cost is too high. FORD etc cant afford (no pun intended) to make cars here anymore because they cant afford to do business within our own country due to the cost!
Everything needs to crash hard. Healthcare needs to come down to $25 a month. Right now its $850+ a month. Rent needs to come down to $40 a month. etc Our entire price structure needs to bottom out until the point at which you're making $3 dollars a week just like that chinese girl in the factory in the Shang Dong Province making Nike sneakers.
Thats the shit the government doesnt want to tell anyone because it aint pretty.
So to recap... Giant corporations such as Ford, GM etc cant make cars in the US, for the same reason why the average person cant be employed in the US for manufacturing jobs. Our high dollar value, and the ridiculous prices we charge each other.
Which comes down to another silly idea. Money itself is just a systemic mindfuck created by humans. Its a peace of fancy paper we place value on more than flesh and blood... life itself. It makes no fucking sense what so ever when you really think about it.
Maybe one day that fancy paper will provide us all a nice living again... but you can expect it to get far worse in the time being.
I'm not one of those wacky conservative nuts but here in NY, we're about to be forced to pay all new kinds of taxes on various things such as Non Diet, Soft Drinks.
I'm all for the LED's if they're better in the long run and cheaper than maintaining the current lights but is it necessary right now?
Our politics are all screwed up here in NY. Its the blind leading the blind... literally.
The real story is how users seem to have a say in the price they're willing to pay on itunes. If an app doesnt sell on itunes, its price goes down quite fast. It has nothing to do with apple. Its market demand.
Gameloft appears to make all of its games using chinese developers and they charge $10s for each of their games. Thats considered a high priced game on itunes. I know its not really that high but gamelofts games, while better polished than the rest, still feel like cheap Chinese imitations of real games.
Gameloft seems to be raking in the cash, as are other devs of popular apps.
Most.99 cent apps arent even worth.99 cents. If developers are whining... they should raise their prices. BUT be warned, the itunes app consumer is pretty picky and will wait until you're forced to come down to a "fair" price.
Yes, It may be some time before there is a $200 MS office sweet on the iphone but who wants it? The iPhone isnt really designed to be a workstation. There isnt the need for heavily developed programs because working on the iphone aint exactly something you want to do for a long period of time. Thats what laptops are for.
Flac is an amazing format. Although due to Itunes, Iphones and Ipods, i've chosen to go with Apple Lossless. Proprietary for sure, but thanks to some genious hackers, we can convert between flac and apple lossless fairly effortlessly with DBpoweramp. So its not quite a "lock in" situation.
The only problem with DBpoweramp is that it wont convert anything over 16bit 44hz to and from apple lossless.
Apple Lossless does need to be "hacked" for the good of man kind. That or i just buy a more "freedom loving" phone/music player. Unfortunately i like my Iphone and my Ipod.... and i like Itunes, despite its shitty performance. IT has to be the worst peice of programming ever written. But it does have some nice features that I like that Windows Media Player, Winamp, Foobar etc lack.
Although Foobar is pretty dam cool (Its too raw from a ui standpoint though)
Anyways... FLAC does rock. Apple Lossless rocks as well. Hopefully more folks will Hack the shit out of Apple Lossless and make it easier to convert between the two formats. Currently you can, but with some limitations.
Lossless music is where its at. I dont even use MP3 anymore as a portable format. I use AAC. Its a better format. I've ABX'd them and I can tell the different. AAC sounds better at lower bit rates, and has more range.
Yeah but most musicians have been releasing their music on CD's and Tapes for a long time and both formats are easily copied... and guess what... most of those bands still made money. Some of them became ridiculously rich.
Just because you can copy it, doesnt mean it wont sell. Now i know, most people would probably think to DL it these days but... what if... it were possible to actually turn a good profit selling your music this way?
Paul may have lots of money, and it certainly allows him to perform this experiment, but so what... He's doing it. Lets see what happens.
I'm not so sure that people are that quick to just steal and rape everything. This is an evolutionary process of distribution. Itunes is a succesfull progression but it will also need to change to fit the future. We are all finding out just how this whole net thing works, and yet, if everyone is going to pirate, steal and rape todays material, it does not mean in the future we will do the same when giving the choice.
We're still adjusting to the idea of the "digital buffet", where libraries of music are at our fingertips. Where discovering new artists is a download away on some forum.
We got shot out of a cannon into this new world and we're figuring it all out still. I think we'll sort it out in time, once we realize that the buffet isnt going to close, and we have access to the buffet all the time and what that means to all of us. Right now we're all shit happy we can get an album without waiting in line at some shitty electronics store. That alone is worth illegally downloading a CD... but it may also be enough to legally download it and not pirate it. We're going to find that out in time.
Paul is testing the waters... because its in all of our interest to evolve and figure this stuff out. Its far better to approach it with "good for mankind" mentality than a "lets lock this shit down and control and legislate freedom for profit" mentality.
Leave it up to the Artists and they do the right thing (MOST of the time).
Of course Paul is of a different mindset than most, and he is from a generation of generosity and love. Go figure, he supports the "humanistic" way to deliver art in today's modern technology.
Paul, and folks like Radiohead, Trent Reznor, Pearl Jam and many lessor known artists are showing the world how its going to be done in the future. The technology we have today is so impowering and so many people give up their rights to be empowered by the technology. So many just buy into DRM schemes and all of these ass backwards ideas that hurt progress.
It really amazes me today, just how much an artist... especially photographers, musicians, film makers etc... can do so much of their craft on a computer at home and simply distribute through the internet themselves. This is such a revolution that suits are still afraid of it, but those that dare embrace the amazing technology and concepts it brings... are simply going to find themselves ahead of the game and apart of the progressive evolution of society. The times are a changing... and I sure hope that we embrace this power, rather than limit it from all of us as humans. It is the most important revolution in information and self involvement into society that we have seen in sometime. Everyone can now have a voice, and deliver it...
The interesting thing is... I still feel like we take this all for granted. The revolution is still in the distance... its not quite here, despite the world being "connected".
Soon enough though, and as more folks like Paul McCartney see the potential... the more we will all be closer to being a more advanced civilization.
Open source is wonderful, but what position is Microsoft in today? Microsoft is still king of the industry, their OSes are still the most widely used.
So are you saying that Apple will end up, king of the hill?
MS isnt going anywhere, and Linux is still not a mainstream desktop. Sorry guys, Its a great OS but the lens at which the die hard Linux Zealots look through is so skewed that it distorts reality.
You're correct, but it also takes user statistics to change the minds of software devs. If more people are using 64-bit, and less people using 32-bit... they will make flash in 64-bit.
There is no future in 32-bit. Adobe is simply lazy and needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into 64-bit. Photoshop users were begging Adobe for a 64-bit photoshop and Adobe actually said something to the effect of "going to 64-bit wont improve performance"... Which is ridiculous. That was around the release of CS3. Everyone was disappointed. Adobe has recently released Photoshop CS4... and it now has 64-bit support.
these companies need to be dragged kicking and screaming because its not in their interest to spend more money converting their old code.
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The school has no right to anyone's ideas.
Especially if the student is paying to go to the school. Dont these schools get tax breaks and other financial support from the government? What gives them the right to just own your thoughts?
I guess the lesson of the day is, progress is bad and keep your mouth shut kids. Dont invent anything. Dont contribute anything because in the end your contributions arent respected or protected unless you you go down that heartless road of "business as usual". Surround yourself with lawyers, become a legalese heart congestion like the rest of these greedy fucks who would rather own your ideas, than facilitate knowledge and learning.
Frankly its disturbing.
Vista 64 and XP64 are true 64bit OSes.
Vista 64 is a pretty good actually despite the slightly slower performance.
There shouldnt even be a 32bit version of Windows 7.
32 bit is dead. When will Microsoft learn already!?!?!
Thats not my experience at all. My vista machines run 24-7 all year and they're solid.
Its slower than xp (we all know that by now) but i do like it better than xp in terms of ui features. I know little has really changed in the ui since xp but there are better ui workflows for searching folders, sorting/listing folders etc.
I hope all of this crap about 7 is true because it would be nice to have the performance of xp (or better) and a more powerful ui.
Linux just isnt in the cards for me... I ran redhat for a year or so (a few years ago) and while it worked, and i had wine setup etc... I found dependencies a pain to deal with and i never truely felt comfortable in linux due to it being different and something new to learn. I been working in 3d modeling & animation for 10+ years and I do photography now, so I have plenty to learn everyday. I always consider myself learning and refining my craft, and when it came down to it, i didnt want to spend time learning linux inside and out, when i could be spending that effort in ways to benefit my craft.
I guess it came down to a time management thing.
I do not hate linux and I'm tempted all of the time to try and run it at home but I think for now windows is fine.
Vista is pretty stable. I know people like to crap on vista but in terms of stability it is far better than xp has been.
"What we pay for is convenience. It doesn't just cost money, it costs your rights as well."
Giving up rights for convenience... sigh. Thats a road full of landmines.
One didnt have to give up rights to buy a CD in the same way one has to give up the right to dl a song. Well you say this is a fair trade for convenience, and I'm not sure thats the case.
Convenience, is having the ability to do whatever you want with the music/movies that you buy. I wouldnt consider DRM a convenience. I just dont see it as "giving up rights for convenience". If anything, DRM makes it very inconvenient because it takes away rights.
First off. Microsoft lost a major court case and as a result no MS Office or any other additional functionality will ever have a chance at becoming a standard component within the OS.
It also sounds like you want your PC to be running at 100% utilization at all times. I do 3d modelling and animation for a living. I use a lot of ram and a lot of cpu and gpu power. I'd rather have it available, than having it processing mysql crap in the background.
However I do agree with you, especially your statement about vista not being able to print or view most of MS's doc formats out of the box, notepad, ms paint, etc. It is rather ridiculous. Especially when you try a mac, and out of the box they read pdf, preview all kinds of graphic formats etc.
MS media player is still pathetic. Its amazing that they still cant get it right. Vista has a graphics viewer that cant view many graphic formats at all. Why do they bother?
Thumbnail previews are great, but theres no thumbnail previews for quicktime, 32bit tiffs, tga, pic, etc.
The zip functionality in Vista is just dumb.
Its just garbage that is all worthless and needs to be replaced by buying third party applications.
But again it does come back to the whole United States vs Microsoft trial, where MS was found guilty of bundling software, and using their monopoly muscle to put the little guy out of business.
Apple does all of the crap MS was guilty of and to this day, Apple is not subject to the same nonsense.
So we see a more complete experience in Mac OS.
Linux is a totally different beast. They're the old PC users... the guys that see computers as progressive instruments that have untapped potential and it is best to invent, create and provide the technology, for the sake of the progress of computers. A linux user is the kind of person that sees their PC as a tool they can use as is, or as how they see it because they understand that a PC should not be limited by some corporate mickey mouse dictatorship out to tell you what you can and cant do with your computer.
Thats not a shot at microsoft, because microsoft used to be of that mindset. Hell their entire company was founded on that idea.
I think its unfair to assume that MS hasnt had this kind of internal debate for sometime. They know deep down that if they cant provide a better, more well rounded experience than linux or apple, that they in time will run the risk of being irrelevant. Its not too far fetched. People are more dissatisfied with MS than ever. That does not mean MS cant pull a great OS out of their ass.
We shall see.
Wow. Right on!
This is exactly my experience with Vista 64bit. I like Vista, there is a lot going for it, its very stable and the new ui workflow, search, and little things here and there make it worth running.
However you nailed my experience perfectly. These are the exact issues i have with Vista.
That statement is thrown around way too much. Its not true. Mac users do have something to fear, and Linux users do as well. All of these systems can be compromised. There is no such thing as security. Mac and Linux users have less to fear in terms of the general garbage that one runs into on a day to day basis on the net, but that does not mean they're safe from harm.
And Leopard isnt Tiger?
Win32 has been around forever.
Its all an evolution. I didnt expect MS to rewrite a new OS from complete scratch in a year.
I'm sorry, I think BOB was hated sufficiently enough to have the hate last several years beyond WinME. In fact I think the healing began somewhere around "Mission Accomplished". Perhaps that's what George W. Bush was referring to?
exactly.
All the security software in the world doesnt mean anything, if the user behind the PC doesnt know the complexities of the system and how it works in its entirety.
Even the experts get viruses but odds go way up when you have no clue as to what or how that magical computer thingy works.
Actually Vista 64 has been far more stable than XP. I dont get BSODs in Vista.
XP has the performance edge, but I do like Vista's new UI enhancements (function wise, not just the eye candy)
Bravo. There it is folks. Leave it to the Australians...
Straight, no nonsense, cut through the bullshit clarity, with a wonderful touch of humanity. That little island breeds some pretty cool people don't it?
Its always funny how its the peasants fault. As if some worker who attaches windshield wipers to cars had the power to completely fuck up upper managements brilliant decision making. Hey i know its not easy making tough decisions... but when management fucks up, they should own up to it, deal with the consequences and move on. Not shit on the people that carry out managements orders. Shit rolls down hill, except its not trickle down economics, its not that piss. This is more along the lines of a giant 30 year backed up earth sized economy whale shit, that's going to rip through the collective assholes of all of us because someone was too busy enjoying all of the fat while the feeding poor the very expensive scraps.
Bravo.
Economics is like an ecosystem (hey look they even have eco in it... Gee folks I wonder why?) Look each countries economy is unique to its wealth, when you start playing outside your economy to profit within your economy, then your might as well be trying to breathe fire instead of oxygen. Its like mixing two unique entities that work on their own for whatever reason. You can only get away with so much mixing before the balance is upset and change is going to happen whether you want it to or not. It's just like the ecosystem, burn it all up, abuse it, and the system will chew you up and spit you out because you didnt CARE about the system. You cant abuse economics. These companies are learning it the hard way.
It's not the workers fault. They grew up in a country (any country)... They do their job, they know how much the cost of living is based on their environment. They are resources. It isnt the high prices they demand, but the standard of living and the cost of life within their own ecosystem... economy. You just cant juice the fucking thing and expect all of this be ok. It doesnt work.
I'll shit on the unions a bit too. Is it there fault? No... The unions became powerful at a time when they were very important and wealth was there, and more American workers were employed. They at the time negotiated fair standards at the time based on the economy.
Well now the economy is different. In fact its wildly out of balance and that is the problem. Should Union workers take less wages? SURE!... but only if management lowers their prices, and everyone else in this country lowers their prices and brings down the cost of living. Until then... The union should hold its ground.
If the system's broken, and the ultra wealthy refuse to budge, then why should the poor?
Everything needs to shift. The price of movie tickets cant go up, they need to go down folks and at the same time, film makers, movie stars etc need to make a lot less money. The whole scale needs to slide down across the board.
But the wealthy cant dare think of taking less profit! That would be insane! Cut workers instead. Thats the solution.
Capitalism is broken and everyone knows it. If the goal in the game is to get all of the money, then what do you do when you have all of it?
It becomes worthless.
Cash needs to flow.... Its an ECOSYSTEM (if you will).
Thats it... Blame the workers that live paycheck to paycheck. Its all their fault. Riiiigggggght.
Give me a break. What do you want from your fellow citizen? Slave wages for all?! Shall we disregard the concept of retiring and health coverage all together?
You may overwork and beat your illegal alien employees at work sir, but at the end of the day... they're living as 3rd world employees in a very expensive country.
Perhaps your right. More people should be poor, and only a very little few (protected by tax payer handouts, full of corruption, greed, heartlessness, and traitorous behavior)... They should enjoy the luxory of having healthcare. Only the wealth in old age, should enjoy the benefits of cancer treatment.
I'm all for juicing this world, if it benefits me. I'm with you my friend. Fuck them all and lets enjoy the fruits of ourselfishness. Our mass quantities of wealth will allow us to run our businesses wrecklessly without really any damage to our private jet collection.
Oh and if we get into trouble... wink wink, the government will bail us out with all of the tax dollars they take from our stupid workers who we pay shit and peanuts. HAHAHAHA We are the fucking gods of this earth, you and I ... Thats not the world I want. Sorry.
Blame our wealth as a nation, our success, and the fact that we've put profit before all else. In the past 20 years, these companies have decided to put profit before even having a stable economy. For a while it worked, but the result is hitting us now. You just cant juice the books, cut major cost by hiring foreigners at slave wages and expect out of work Americans to buy your expensive products. It just doesnt work.
You cant take all of the jellybeans out of the jar, and expect more to be in there next week, without putting some back in tomorrow.
Its quite simple really. Our economy is failing because the corporations hire less Americans, while charging the same high prices. It just doesnt work because all of these businesses want to keep the high prices because it's great for profit, however at some point our economy needs to crash to level out. We have an expensive live style, compared to the amount of employeed workers and the wages they receive. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, and they're all buying products made in china where they pay laborers $3 dollars a week.
I laugh when i see $350 headphones from companies. Its fucking plastic, a simple speaker, and some wire... and its all made in china for less than $10 !!!
That is the problem. We can not live within our own country anymore because the cost is too high. FORD etc cant afford (no pun intended) to make cars here anymore because they cant afford to do business within our own country due to the cost!
Everything needs to crash hard. Healthcare needs to come down to $25 a month. Right now its $850+ a month. Rent needs to come down to $40 a month. etc Our entire price structure needs to bottom out until the point at which you're making $3 dollars a week just like that chinese girl in the factory in the Shang Dong Province making Nike sneakers.
Thats the shit the government doesnt want to tell anyone because it aint pretty.
So to recap... Giant corporations such as Ford, GM etc cant make cars in the US, for the same reason why the average person cant be employed in the US for manufacturing jobs. Our high dollar value, and the ridiculous prices we charge each other.
Which comes down to another silly idea. Money itself is just a systemic mindfuck created by humans. Its a peace of fancy paper we place value on more than flesh and blood... life itself. It makes no fucking sense what so ever when you really think about it.
Maybe one day that fancy paper will provide us all a nice living again... but you can expect it to get far worse in the time being.
I'm more of an independent that doesnt have faith in either party or any elected official. :)
I'm not one of those wacky conservative nuts but here in NY, we're about to be forced to pay all new kinds of taxes on various things such as Non Diet, Soft Drinks.
I'm all for the LED's if they're better in the long run and cheaper than maintaining the current lights but is it necessary right now?
Our politics are all screwed up here in NY. Its the blind leading the blind... literally.
If so... no battery stimulus for you. And BTW.. they can fuck off and die.
Devs decide on the price.
The real story is how users seem to have a say in the price they're willing to pay on itunes. If an app doesnt sell on itunes, its price goes down quite fast. It has nothing to do with apple. Its market demand.
Gameloft appears to make all of its games using chinese developers and they charge $10s for each of their games. Thats considered a high priced game on itunes. I know its not really that high but gamelofts games, while better polished than the rest, still feel like cheap Chinese imitations of real games.
Gameloft seems to be raking in the cash, as are other devs of popular apps.
Most .99 cent apps arent even worth .99 cents. If developers are whining... they should raise their prices. BUT be warned, the itunes app consumer is pretty picky and will wait until you're forced to come down to a "fair" price.
Yes, It may be some time before there is a $200 MS office sweet on the iphone but who wants it? The iPhone isnt really designed to be a workstation. There isnt the need for heavily developed programs because working on the iphone aint exactly something you want to do for a long period of time. Thats what laptops are for.
Flac is an amazing format. Although due to Itunes, Iphones and Ipods, i've chosen to go with Apple Lossless. Proprietary for sure, but thanks to some genious hackers, we can convert between flac and apple lossless fairly effortlessly with DBpoweramp. So its not quite a "lock in" situation.
The only problem with DBpoweramp is that it wont convert anything over 16bit 44hz to and from apple lossless.
Apple Lossless does need to be "hacked" for the good of man kind. That or i just buy a more "freedom loving" phone/music player. Unfortunately i like my Iphone and my Ipod.... and i like Itunes, despite its shitty performance. IT has to be the worst peice of programming ever written. But it does have some nice features that I like that Windows Media Player, Winamp, Foobar etc lack.
Although Foobar is pretty dam cool (Its too raw from a ui standpoint though)
Anyways... FLAC does rock. Apple Lossless rocks as well. Hopefully more folks will Hack the shit out of Apple Lossless and make it easier to convert between the two formats. Currently you can, but with some limitations.
Lossless music is where its at. I dont even use MP3 anymore as a portable format. I use AAC. Its a better format. I've ABX'd them and I can tell the different. AAC sounds better at lower bit rates, and has more range.
Yeah but most musicians have been releasing their music on CD's and Tapes for a long time and both formats are easily copied... and guess what... most of those bands still made money. Some of them became ridiculously rich.
Just because you can copy it, doesnt mean it wont sell. Now i know, most people would probably think to DL it these days but... what if... it were possible to actually turn a good profit selling your music this way?
Paul may have lots of money, and it certainly allows him to perform this experiment, but so what... He's doing it. Lets see what happens.
I'm not so sure that people are that quick to just steal and rape everything. This is an evolutionary process of distribution. Itunes is a succesfull progression but it will also need to change to fit the future. We are all finding out just how this whole net thing works, and yet, if everyone is going to pirate, steal and rape todays material, it does not mean in the future we will do the same when giving the choice.
We're still adjusting to the idea of the "digital buffet", where libraries of music are at our fingertips. Where discovering new artists is a download away on some forum.
We got shot out of a cannon into this new world and we're figuring it all out still. I think we'll sort it out in time, once we realize that the buffet isnt going to close, and we have access to the buffet all the time and what that means to all of us. Right now we're all shit happy we can get an album without waiting in line at some shitty electronics store. That alone is worth illegally downloading a CD... but it may also be enough to legally download it and not pirate it. We're going to find that out in time.
Paul is testing the waters... because its in all of our interest to evolve and figure this stuff out. Its far better to approach it with "good for mankind" mentality than a "lets lock this shit down and control and legislate freedom for profit" mentality.
Leave it up to the Artists and they do the right thing (MOST of the time).
Of course Paul is of a different mindset than most, and he is from a generation of generosity and love. Go figure, he supports the "humanistic" way to deliver art in today's modern technology.
Paul, and folks like Radiohead, Trent Reznor, Pearl Jam and many lessor known artists are showing the world how its going to be done in the future. The technology we have today is so impowering and so many people give up their rights to be empowered by the technology. So many just buy into DRM schemes and all of these ass backwards ideas that hurt progress.
It really amazes me today, just how much an artist... especially photographers, musicians, film makers etc... can do so much of their craft on a computer at home and simply distribute through the internet themselves. This is such a revolution that suits are still afraid of it, but those that dare embrace the amazing technology and concepts it brings... are simply going to find themselves ahead of the game and apart of the progressive evolution of society. The times are a changing... and I sure hope that we embrace this power, rather than limit it from all of us as humans. It is the most important revolution in information and self involvement into society that we have seen in sometime. Everyone can now have a voice, and deliver it...
The interesting thing is... I still feel like we take this all for granted. The revolution is still in the distance... its not quite here, despite the world being "connected".
Soon enough though, and as more folks like Paul McCartney see the potential... the more we will all be closer to being a more advanced civilization.
I love you open source nuts...
Open source is wonderful, but what position is Microsoft in today? Microsoft is still king of the industry, their OSes are still the most widely used.
So are you saying that Apple will end up, king of the hill?
MS isnt going anywhere, and Linux is still not a mainstream desktop. Sorry guys, Its a great OS but the lens at which the die hard Linux Zealots look through is so skewed that it distorts reality.
I hope they make a real version of it soon ;) All of those shots are 3D rendered product shots.
You're correct, but it also takes user statistics to change the minds of software devs. If more people are using 64-bit, and less people using 32-bit... they will make flash in 64-bit.
There is no future in 32-bit. Adobe is simply lazy and needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into 64-bit. Photoshop users were begging Adobe for a 64-bit photoshop and Adobe actually said something to the effect of "going to 64-bit wont improve performance"... Which is ridiculous. That was around the release of CS3. Everyone was disappointed. Adobe has recently released Photoshop CS4... and it now has 64-bit support.
these companies need to be dragged kicking and screaming because its not in their interest to spend more money converting their old code.