Broadcasters like DI.fm who are licensed would have to drop MP3 and unencrypted WMA streams for DRM/encrypted WMA streams, which would no doubt drive up their operating costs
not to mention cut out non-Windows owning audience members. Unless they also legislate that MS has to open up WMA DRM. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What I wouldn't give for someone in Congress to represent the people
Damn right! Why don't I ever read Slashdot posting about Congress and go "now that's a good idea"??
Where did this come from? What ever happened to being able to tape off of the radio? Will a bill disallowing CDR components from recording radio be coming around any time soon? Because with HD Radio and a CDR, I can do the same thing. Also illegal??
This is absurdity to a new low. Somebody vote these pricks Feinstein and Graham out of office.
To site an example, Quicktime has ended in a crash roughly 100% of the times I have used it
Now lets examine this. I have Quicktime - have for years. Has probably crashed once or twice in the past five years, but what program that I own hasn't? Fact of the matter is, Windows is rarely the problem, and Quicktime is rarely the problem. More than likely, your crashing probably had to do with other software/drivers you had on your machine.
When software works well for 99% of the populice and not for 1%, it means the problem is local, and hardly with the software.
For instance, I can't register Norton Antivirus because the registration screen hangs. Why? Got me. But when 30 other people in my office registered it just fine, well... I assumed the issue was my PC.
but in the US we've now established quite clearly that the government intends to abuse the populace and the common good
Yet we (the people, the representatives) refuse to do anything about it. I really carry a great deal of concern that the "representatives" of the people (the majority, anyway) hardly represent the people. If they did, music sharing and P2P would be legal, national ID cards would be a laughable proposal, and biometrics would be a thing of the past. (Oh, and at a 30% approval rating, Bush would be impeached by now. Sorry for the troll... he just irks me.)
This company neither invents things, nor makes products based on the inventions of others. That's necessary when your company is a patent troll.
Ah, but RTFA! This company claims that everything it does is inventing! Who cares if there isn't a working prototype or the technology to create a working prototype? Patent on the warp drive! Patent on using worm holes for remote surgery! Patent for "making the internet faster"! Who cares how we do it, we "invented it"! So if you actually make it work?
plans to fine commercial patent infringement with three years of prison
This just downright scares me. There is no way - with tens of thousands of patents on shit like double-clicking - that software I have written for the companies I have worked for did not infringe on at least one or two.
Before, it was easy to not infringe on a patent. Hmm... inline skates already exist and are patented. But I can come up with a new way of allowing people to roll down the streets.
Now, the rolling itself is patented, as are things like "wind generated by rolling", "visual effect of longer hair blowing in the wind", "precise brain measurements to maintain balance", "method of pushing with one foot to propel other foot still firmly planted on the ground", and even "gravitational pull on person on roller skates on a hill".
Everything that can be done is patented. I might as well turn myself in now, pay my ~$600K USD, and hop on over to pound-me-in-the-ass prision. Because it's me, the infringer, that should go to prision, not the $400 million venture who's aim it is to make sure that everything I do infringes on not a single invention of theirs, but at least 10 or 15 of their patents.
In particular: helping them do it better in a way they might never have imagined.
And now "imagining" means "purchasing". In no way, shape, or form should patents be assignable to a third party. The potential for abuse has already been realized in the courts again and again.
Just look at the name of the company. They were set up, specifically to be a patent troll. Obviously the companies in question figure half a billion dollars is chump change in return for what they can get with just a few "settlements" (RIM, anyone?)
This scares me. No doubt this company will start buying out other "patent holding firms", amassing a rediculously big software IP portfolio, to the point that any development of any kind requires a "development license" that covers you against lawsuits. Because I have to assume that with 5000 patents and counting, just about any website or Windows/OSX app that I write is going to infringe on one of them.
last i checked... where is it considered illegal in the US? Just recently in Texas anti-sodomy laws were struck down.
Besides, if that were true, half of my porn collection - completely devoid of man-on-man action - would be illegal. Heck, even some of the girl-on-girl action would be illegal;)
"Sir... Sir... I'm going to have to ask you to find your Start Button." "I have OSX" "Sir... I understand, but I need to walk you through this. Please locate your Start button." "You don't understand - I'm on a Mac, I don't have a Start button." "Sir... You're not making this any easier. Once we go through this we can identify your issue." "Actually, my issue is that my cable modem arrived without a power supply."
- Actual conversation I had with tech support. Long live tech support. Long live tech support scripts.
But Democratic legislators do break away from the party line more often than Republican ones do. This is a simple fact, easily verified by a look at voting records.
Recently this is true, because the Republicans hold a majority just about everywhere it wants to. There was more dissention during the Clinton years.
The party in power demands to stay in power an often call all collegues to mindless loyalty in order to keep it that way. If the democrats were on a five year majority rule bender, you can bet they'd demand the same party-line zombie-like loyalty the Republicans do now.
Although, then THEY would be embroiled in scandal with the likes of Abramov, Delay, etc.
That said, the past few years we have been dealing with an increasingly aggressive leadership only interested in helping big businesses, christian morals, and themselves.
You make the same mistake everyone makes - assuming the leadership give a shit about Christian morals. Religiously, this country does everything it can to bend over backwards for everyone except Christians.
The reason that government seems to support such Christian thought patterns is two-fold:
The Bible-Belt represents a huge, huge amount of votes
Many donators with deep pockets demand it.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that leadership themselves care about a Christian utopia. Just those who control money (and thus control politicians) do.
fewer people freak out when they hear that we live under big brother, now.
It's because America is lazy now. Change requires work, and America is just lazy. It's easier to bitch over coffee how Bush wiretaps then it is to actually do something - even as simple as writing your representatives.
People, as a whole, are sheep. It's the very thing that shows the likes of the Simpsons and Family Guy show - mob mentality rules, people are sheep. The majority usually complains about indescressions for a week, then accept them.
Take the RIAA for instance. There was a huge web backlash when they first filed their 1.7 billion john doe lawsuits. Since then,/. is about the only place that continues to hold hate for the RIAA - everyone else just buys their music, no matter how many 80 year old grandmothers they bankrupt.
Same for public survellance. You're videotaped hundreds of times a day. Initially it was uncomfortable, but now people just ignore and accept it.
To use another Simpsons analogy - take the time Apu was on Homer's lawn looking in the front window and Homer wanted him to leave:
Homer: Will you get off my lawn!?
Apu: Why don't you make me!
Homer: Why!?! Aw... I give up...
I know this sounds stupid, but I actually think (the mockups of) the wind farms are actually quite beautiful. They are a simple, elegant, almost silent method of harnessing the energy of the earth without destroying it.
A wind farm is not only a quite visually stunning acheivement of architecture and imagination, it's also a perservering symbol of human ingenuity - constantly moving forward, finally considering that we've gotten powerful enough to destroy the world, and instead choose to live in harmony with it.
I would welcome the view of a wind farm off the shore of my beach house (like I have one) because I know it means we're moving forward.
gowen - it's not that I don't get that MS is a convicted monopolist. It's that levying fines is not going to dramatically alter a behavior that you want changed (see: speeding tickets.)
I guess my point is simply that a) I disagree that MS stifles innovation (see OSX, Linux, OpenOffice, Apache, MySQL, etc. etc. etc.) and b) if they are indeed a monopoly, why weren't they dealt the same blow as AT&T and the railways? Split them up! Leaving a monopoly in place and fining a few bucks that the government just wastes (as well as allowing the government to continue to employ MS products) is not punishment.
I am all for a few different Microsofts. Split!!
I hate this argument. Just because something sits within a recognized pattern of behavior does not make it right by default.
Your post makes sense and is nothing something I didn't consider. But loyalty is something I do feel owed as it's in return for my loyalty. But I guess old-school notions of loyalty just don't exist anymore - not when there are dollars in question.
Awesome summary of the way I feel. Every new patent is an affront to innovation and consumer protectionism. Every new "feature" is yet another restriction on what used to be my fair use rights.
There is a new war, between consumers and the businesses that want government protection from them. I've never seen so many laws that define what a consumer is and what I may do with what I purchase.
Didn't it used to be the other way around? Didn't laws protect ME from bad business? Didn't I define what I could do with a product? Or am I pining for days that simply never existed??
Slashdot Mirror
not to mention cut out non-Windows owning audience members. Unless they also legislate that MS has to open up WMA DRM. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Own a Mac? No streaming radio for you!!
Damn right! Why don't I ever read Slashdot posting about Congress and go "now that's a good idea"??
Where did this come from? What ever happened to being able to tape off of the radio? Will a bill disallowing CDR components from recording radio be coming around any time soon? Because with HD Radio and a CDR, I can do the same thing. Also illegal??
This is absurdity to a new low. Somebody vote these pricks Feinstein and Graham out of office.
Hold a sharpie in your hand, bang it on the DVD, and shout "Arise, chicken, arise!"
Instructions from BillyWitchDoctor.com
(If it doesn't work, you may be holding the Sharpie upside down.)
Nintendo Wii:
- Wii Games
- Also Wii Downloads
- Also Also Wii Lamas
Now lets examine this. I have Quicktime - have for years. Has probably crashed once or twice in the past five years, but what program that I own hasn't? Fact of the matter is, Windows is rarely the problem, and Quicktime is rarely the problem. More than likely, your crashing probably had to do with other software/drivers you had on your machine.
When software works well for 99% of the populice and not for 1%, it means the problem is local, and hardly with the software.
For instance, I can't register Norton Antivirus because the registration screen hangs. Why? Got me. But when 30 other people in my office registered it just fine, well... I assumed the issue was my PC.
The only post that actually contributes anything so far, and it's at 1. Sorry, wish I had mod points.
Yet we (the people, the representatives) refuse to do anything about it. I really carry a great deal of concern that the "representatives" of the people (the majority, anyway) hardly represent the people. If they did, music sharing and P2P would be legal, national ID cards would be a laughable proposal, and biometrics would be a thing of the past. (Oh, and at a 30% approval rating, Bush would be impeached by now. Sorry for the troll... he just irks me.)
Ah, but RTFA! This company claims that everything it does is inventing! Who cares if there isn't a working prototype or the technology to create a working prototype? Patent on the warp drive! Patent on using worm holes for remote surgery! Patent for "making the internet faster"! Who cares how we do it, we "invented it"! So if you actually make it work?
PAY UP BITCH!
This just downright scares me. There is no way - with tens of thousands of patents on shit like double-clicking - that software I have written for the companies I have worked for did not infringe on at least one or two.
Before, it was easy to not infringe on a patent. Hmm... inline skates already exist and are patented. But I can come up with a new way of allowing people to roll down the streets.
Now, the rolling itself is patented, as are things like "wind generated by rolling", "visual effect of longer hair blowing in the wind", "precise brain measurements to maintain balance", "method of pushing with one foot to propel other foot still firmly planted on the ground", and even "gravitational pull on person on roller skates on a hill".
Everything that can be done is patented. I might as well turn myself in now, pay my ~$600K USD, and hop on over to pound-me-in-the-ass prision. Because it's me, the infringer, that should go to prision, not the $400 million venture who's aim it is to make sure that everything I do infringes on not a single invention of theirs, but at least 10 or 15 of their patents.
And now "imagining" means "purchasing". In no way, shape, or form should patents be assignable to a third party. The potential for abuse has already been realized in the courts again and again.
Just look at the name of the company. They were set up, specifically to be a patent troll. Obviously the companies in question figure half a billion dollars is chump change in return for what they can get with just a few "settlements" (RIM, anyone?)
This scares me. No doubt this company will start buying out other "patent holding firms", amassing a rediculously big software IP portfolio, to the point that any development of any kind requires a "development license" that covers you against lawsuits. Because I have to assume that with 5000 patents and counting, just about any website or Windows/OSX app that I write is going to infringe on one of them.
Not really sure how this differs from a monitor with iSight built in. Big-brother wise, that is.
Meh, it's been done.
Aww... no under-boob. Hopefully side-boob is still in play.
Dammit. That's what I just did. I'm such a tool.
last i checked... where is it considered illegal in the US? Just recently in Texas anti-sodomy laws were struck down.
Besides, if that were true, half of my porn collection - completely devoid of man-on-man action - would be illegal. Heck, even some of the girl-on-girl action would be illegal ;)
"Sir... Sir... I'm going to have to ask you to find your Start Button."
"I have OSX"
"Sir... I understand, but I need to walk you through this. Please locate your Start button."
"You don't understand - I'm on a Mac, I don't have a Start button."
"Sir... You're not making this any easier. Once we go through this we can identify your issue."
"Actually, my issue is that my cable modem arrived without a power supply."
- Actual conversation I had with tech support. Long live tech support. Long live tech support scripts.
Recently this is true, because the Republicans hold a majority just about everywhere it wants to. There was more dissention during the Clinton years.
The party in power demands to stay in power an often call all collegues to mindless loyalty in order to keep it that way. If the democrats were on a five year majority rule bender, you can bet they'd demand the same party-line zombie-like loyalty the Republicans do now.
Although, then THEY would be embroiled in scandal with the likes of Abramov, Delay, etc.
You make the same mistake everyone makes - assuming the leadership give a shit about Christian morals. Religiously, this country does everything it can to bend over backwards for everyone except Christians.
The reason that government seems to support such Christian thought patterns is two-fold:
Don't make the mistake of thinking that leadership themselves care about a Christian utopia. Just those who control money (and thus control politicians) do.
It's because America is lazy now. Change requires work, and America is just lazy. It's easier to bitch over coffee how Bush wiretaps then it is to actually do something - even as simple as writing your representatives.
People, as a whole, are sheep. It's the very thing that shows the likes of the Simpsons and Family Guy show - mob mentality rules, people are sheep. The majority usually complains about indescressions for a week, then accept them.
Take the RIAA for instance. There was a huge web backlash when they first filed their 1.7 billion john doe lawsuits. Since then, /. is about the only place that continues to hold hate for the RIAA - everyone else just buys their music, no matter how many 80 year old grandmothers they bankrupt.
Same for public survellance. You're videotaped hundreds of times a day. Initially it was uncomfortable, but now people just ignore and accept it.
To use another Simpsons analogy - take the time Apu was on Homer's lawn looking in the front window and Homer wanted him to leave:
Homer: Will you get off my lawn!?
Apu: Why don't you make me!
Homer: Why!?! Aw... I give up...
It's not funny because it's true.
I know this sounds stupid, but I actually think (the mockups of) the wind farms are actually quite beautiful. They are a simple, elegant, almost silent method of harnessing the energy of the earth without destroying it.
A wind farm is not only a quite visually stunning acheivement of architecture and imagination, it's also a perservering symbol of human ingenuity - constantly moving forward, finally considering that we've gotten powerful enough to destroy the world, and instead choose to live in harmony with it.
I would welcome the view of a wind farm off the shore of my beach house (like I have one) because I know it means we're moving forward.
gowen - it's not that I don't get that MS is a convicted monopolist. It's that levying fines is not going to dramatically alter a behavior that you want changed (see: speeding tickets.) I guess my point is simply that a) I disagree that MS stifles innovation (see OSX, Linux, OpenOffice, Apache, MySQL, etc. etc. etc.) and b) if they are indeed a monopoly, why weren't they dealt the same blow as AT&T and the railways? Split them up! Leaving a monopoly in place and fining a few bucks that the government just wastes (as well as allowing the government to continue to employ MS products) is not punishment. I am all for a few different Microsofts. Split!!
I hate this argument. Just because something sits within a recognized pattern of behavior does not make it right by default.
Your post makes sense and is nothing something I didn't consider. But loyalty is something I do feel owed as it's in return for my loyalty. But I guess old-school notions of loyalty just don't exist anymore - not when there are dollars in question.
Wow. -1 Flaimbait in under 5 minutes. You mods hate MS unequivicolly, and are willing to stifle any opinion not yours.
Although, I guess this is destined for flaimbait status too.
*MOD PARENT UP*
Awesome summary of the way I feel. Every new patent is an affront to innovation and consumer protectionism. Every new "feature" is yet another restriction on what used to be my fair use rights.
There is a new war, between consumers and the businesses that want government protection from them. I've never seen so many laws that define what a consumer is and what I may do with what I purchase.
Didn't it used to be the other way around? Didn't laws protect ME from bad business? Didn't I define what I could do with a product? Or am I pining for days that simply never existed??