I disagree with your argument for the simple fact that the designer is not going to prevent you from making a copy of the piece of clothing you just bought (Copying and selling the item is a totally different thing), for your own personal use.
The general masses may get sucked with the flow, however, they will always look for a cheaper way out. The younger generation is almost always the answer. The younger generation will quickly teach others how to do things, how to circumvent, bypass or even replace software thats restrictive. Most of us here learned just like that whilst we were young. It was simply a part of growing up for us and we can now pass that knowledge down to the next generation. The younger generation will teach and (to some extent) educate the older generation on things that they learned and as the younger generation becomes the older generation the mindset will change, slowly but surely.
What does it have to do with all of this ? - Well... if MS does what everyone else here is predicting, then the younger generation will find ways around it or replace it (and move to Linux or Mac, etc). They will convey this information to others and it will slowly spread.
In my view, the best you can do is to teach others about alternatives. I use Linux solely at home, except for my wife's Win 98 machine. She has clearly stated that she has no reason to upgrade to the latest and greatest, since all she does is read emails, browse the web and write Word documents. She has also specifically stated that rather than upgrade she'd switch to Linux, since the later versions of Windows appear too complex to her and she has no desire to spend that kind of money. It was simply a matter of education, and it's only a matter of time before my whole household is on Linux.
I guess they'd need the $180/hour just to pay for their internet connection!
Seriously, like you I cannot understand how this is physically possible! - even with cable, clicking on various links takes atleast a few seconds, unless you are the only one visiting the site at the time(unlikely).
Would it also mean that all the millions of websites out there that are using JPEGs are in potential violation if they haven't paid a license fee of some sort?
I don't think this will have any effect on websites that use the jpegs. As I understand it this really only concerns software that creates the jpegs.
Besides even if you do use software that is not licenced, you as an end-user should not be liable for damages, only the company that created the software would. But then again we have SCO using this very tactic!
Actually I mentioned that the intermediate code (P-Code or whatever) will be "compiled" when the driver is loaded. This has teh advantage of the binary image being optimized to the hardware it is running on, rather than be standardized for the lowest common denominator (eg. If you can a 64-bit machine and someone else has a 32-bit machine, your binary will be optimized to take advantage of any 64-bit extensions, etc).
The OS can also cache the compiled image so that future uses of that driver version will be loaded as the binary. This way only the first boot will be slow. Future boots can use this binary cache.
Better yet, performance analysis can be done at run-time by the OS and the driver can be optimized in real-time.
The trickiest part of all this though is to make sure that the imtermediate code is open and standardized. This way any OS can use use these drivers by implementing a compiler for this intermediate code.
Which is exactly why I wish hardware would have drivers built-in.
The code for the driver should be in some open in-between format (eg. p-code, etc) which can then be "compiled" and "executed" by the OS at runtime. This way the hardware whould work with any OS on any architecture (as long as the OS supports the p-code version).
As an added benefit, the device driver "compiler" can also perform on the fly optimizations to increase performance and/or take advantage of other auxilary hardware.
You cannot give away something and then expect to go back and charge $299 for it once the competition is killed. This is something that will never happen - It would be a very stupid move since the public perception would be severily eroded. Why should someone have to pay an exorbant price for something that was once free ? - MS is having a tough time trying to convince users to upgrade to Win XP. Just imagine how hard it would be to now charge $299 for something that was once free
Finally I cannot believe that they will be able to operate for 5 years with 0 revenue. Their operating costs alone (per quarter) are ~34B! (see) and they net ~7.7B (per quarter).
Also they would have to deal with anti-competitive suites since Linux is not the only competitor in town and commercial Linux is not free (as in $$$).
When faced with a monopoly, most people go crying foul to their governments to resolve the problem and yet at the same time they continue to support the monopolistic company by buying their products, directly or indirectly.
I wish people would just "wake up" and realize just how much power they have in a democracy (if they can all band together)
And yes, I made the switch myself to Linux some time ago, except for at work (but I'm working on that too), simply because I refuse to support monopolies like MS. I haven't regretted the change one bit, and yes there are times where I have been frustrated (eg. When trying to get 3D on my Voodoo3 card), but most of the time, it was my fault because I went off playing with settings I shouldn't have or didn't quite understand.
I doubt it... just look at the mess with IE. They will "embrace and extend" until the competition is negligable or non-existant and then go back to their old ways
In order to truely battle this you need to make the average consumer "aware" of the concequences of things as they are now. Until this can happen politicians give a damn since the voters will still ignorantly vote.
Joe Smoe just created the ultimate algorithm solving all the worlds' problems and in his excitement forgot to pedal his putercycle(tm) thus causing his computer to shutdown, before the work was saved!
Ask Borland - According to their C++ v3 installer, if you have a CPU 386 and are trying to install, it will ask you to "replace the CPU and then press enter to continue"
I could never figure out how this would work so I decided to try;) - Let's just say it didn't work!
Slashdot Mirror
Would people be willing to live with ads sprinkled throughout their search items ?
I love your sig.
I disagree with your argument for the simple fact that the designer is not going to prevent you from making a copy of the piece of clothing you just bought (Copying and selling the item is a totally different thing), for your own personal use.
Or does anyone else think that that My Real Baby doll by Hasbro looks kinda scarey ?
If they need volenteers, I'd be willing to help my local library, and I'm sure there are others out there.
Finally found a use for the EMC Terrabyte storage unit I bought off E-Bay!!!
What does it have to do with all of this ? - Well... if MS does what everyone else here is predicting, then the younger generation will find ways around it or replace it (and move to Linux or Mac, etc). They will convey this information to others and it will slowly spread.
In my view, the best you can do is to teach others about alternatives. I use Linux solely at home, except for my wife's Win 98 machine. She has clearly stated that she has no reason to upgrade to the latest and greatest, since all she does is read emails, browse the web and write Word documents. She has also specifically stated that rather than upgrade she'd switch to Linux, since the later versions of Windows appear too complex to her and she has no desire to spend that kind of money. It was simply a matter of education, and it's only a matter of time before my whole household is on Linux.
Seriously, like you I cannot understand how this is physically possible! - even with cable, clicking on various links takes atleast a few seconds, unless you are the only one visiting the site at the time(unlikely).
Hehehehe... At first glance I thought you said you had 40 kids!
It should display messages in binary!
I don't think this will have any effect on websites that use the jpegs. As I understand it this really only concerns software that creates the jpegs.
Besides even if you do use software that is not licenced, you as an end-user should not be liable for damages, only the company that created the software would. But then again we have SCO using this very tactic!
Ps. IANAL
The OS can also cache the compiled image so that future uses of that driver version will be loaded as the binary. This way only the first boot will be slow. Future boots can use this binary cache.
Better yet, performance analysis can be done at run-time by the OS and the driver can be optimized in real-time.
The trickiest part of all this though is to make sure that the imtermediate code is open and standardized. This way any OS can use use these drivers by implementing a compiler for this intermediate code.
Which is exactly why I wish hardware would have drivers built-in.
The code for the driver should be in some open in-between format (eg. p-code, etc) which can then be "compiled" and "executed" by the OS at runtime. This way the hardware whould work with any OS on any architecture (as long as the OS supports the p-code version).
As an added benefit, the device driver "compiler" can also perform on the fly optimizations to increase performance and/or take advantage of other auxilary hardware.
it can withstand a /.ing
My password is password My IP is 127.0.0.1 Now where's my chocolate ???
I'm surprised it made it that far!
Well actually it more like 1 months worth of profit. MS made a net profit of 7.7B in the last quarter!
Finally I cannot believe that they will be able to operate for 5 years with 0 revenue. Their operating costs alone (per quarter) are ~34B! (see) and they net ~7.7B (per quarter).
Also they would have to deal with anti-competitive suites since Linux is not the only competitor in town and commercial Linux is not free (as in $$$).
You know what I find sad...
When faced with a monopoly, most people go crying foul to their governments to resolve the problem and yet at the same time they continue to support the monopolistic company by buying their products, directly or indirectly.
I wish people would just "wake up" and realize just how much power they have in a democracy (if they can all band together)
And yes, I made the switch myself to Linux some time ago, except for at work (but I'm working on that too), simply because I refuse to support monopolies like MS. I haven't regretted the change one bit, and yes there are times where I have been frustrated (eg. When trying to get 3D on my Voodoo3 card), but most of the time, it was my fault because I went off playing with settings I shouldn't have or didn't quite understand.
I doubt it... just look at the mess with IE. They will "embrace and extend" until the competition is negligable or non-existant and then go back to their old ways
That's how the dinosaurs died ?!?!
An electronic device that confirms that I actually did rm -r -f /home
In order to truely battle this you need to make the average consumer "aware" of the concequences of things as they are now. Until this can happen politicians give a damn since the voters will still ignorantly vote.
I can just picture this now...
Joe Smoe just created the ultimate algorithm solving all the worlds' problems and in his excitement forgot to pedal his putercycle(tm) thus causing his computer to shutdown, before the work was saved!
Ask Borland - According to their C++ v3 installer, if you have a CPU 386 and are trying to install, it will ask you to "replace the CPU and then press enter to continue" I could never figure out how this would work so I decided to try ;) - Let's just say it didn't work!