I've been playing guitar for 34 years, and I *do* make my total living from playing, although that wasn't always true. I have no day job etc. I'm not rich, but I'm far from starving.
During the winter season, my band plays mostly bars and clubs for anywhere from $60-$75 per man per night upwards, 2-5 nights/week. Summers we do mostly bluesfests, fairs, and other larger, mostly outdoor venues which tend to pay much better. We've released 1 CD, with another CD we plan to cut this summer. We ask for a donation, but don't require it for downloads and charge $4 for a physical CD to cover media and artwork costs. We say right on the CD and the liner, "Copy-Friendly!..You May Copy This Music and Share It."
You would be surprised..only about %15 of downloads are with no donation, and most happily donate $10-$20.
As far as whether you believe me or not, that's on you, and there's not much I can do about it. If you had looked at my comment history, you'd see that I've previously said I won't post the bands' website URL or name my band, as I don't feel that would be appropriate.
However, if you're in Kalamazoo MI this coming April 21st, come to the State Theatre that evening, (no, we're not the headliner) you can listen for yourself, and I'll even give you a CD (if there are any left:-P) and buy you a beer after the show. I'll be the good-looking guy playing a cherry-burst G&L Legacy through a Seymour-Duncan 84-40 1-12" tube combo amp, and a black leather fedora.;)
Come on, just stop pirating and all of this would be a non-issue.
From an acquaintance of mine who actually creates entertainment for a living:
"I've also got too many friends dedicating their lives to creating art, struggling to get stay afloat, so Im gonna take this a little personally."
I actually create content (I'm in a blues band writing and performing original music) and we don't expect to make money from our recordings, as that buisiness model for primary revenue from content has been obsoleted by advances in technology.
Maybe your acquaintance and his friends should rethink their buisiness model? We produce CDs for promotional purposes and provide high-quality free downloads, but our revenue is mainly generated from performances and merchandise sales at our shows.
We encourage sharing of our music and performance videos, as that increases our fanbase and allows us more leverage in negotiating compensation for our shows, as the venues know attendance/ticket sales will be high.
Trying to mandate buggy-whip sales in the age of automobiles by trying to force people to have a buggy-whip inserted as a dongle before the car will start makes about as much sense as DRM.
Actually, it was the "traceroute" command since I'm using FreeBSD at the moment, but the results are shocking!!
Note line #'s 12+13.
*snippped*
6 tbr2-cl18.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.10.134) 19.178 ms 19.606 ms 31.842 ms
7 12.123.5.141 (12.123.5.141) 17.240 ms 17.023 ms 17.934 ms
8 att-gw.dfw.allegiance.net (192.205.32.226) 19.121 ms 18.471 ms 23.185 ms
9 dcr2-so-2-0-0.Denver.savvis.net (204.70.192.133) 47.744 ms 41.305 ms 43.063 ms 10 dcr1-so-2-0-0.SanFranciscosfo.savvis.net (204.70.192.114) 127.117 ms 87.600 ms 93.811 ms 11 dcr2-so-5-0-0.SanFranciscosfo.savvis.net (204.70.192.150) 121.773 ms 83.754 ms 83.437 ms 12 bhr1-pos-0-0.SantaClarasc8.savvis.net (208.172.156.198) 87.552 ms 85.487 ms 88.110 ms 13 csr1-ve243.santaclarasc8.savvis.net (66.35.194.50) 98.982 ms 87.815 ms 84.761 ms 14 66.35.212.174 (66.35.212.174) 95.510 ms 89.706 ms 89.609 ms 15 slashdot.org (66.35.250.150) 98.020 ms ! 86.793 ms ! 84.389 ms !
Is SCO now monitoring all internet traffic to/.?!?
I don't deny that there is a lot of independent content. The comment I was responding to was arguing that the primary reason for DRM was to prevent people from accessing alternative content, and not to reduce privacy. While I am sure that they would prefer seeing you buying content from them rather than getting free independent content, I have seen no connection between that and the way that DRM has been handled so far. The large media companies have done plenty of nasty stuff for real without all of the player haters inventing additional, phony, evil motives for their actions.
I was coming from the point of view that DRM and companion legislation is in the cooking-frog stages, and hasn't *quite* gotten there *yet*.
I'm looking ahead to things like Trusted Computing and further future legislation trying to "clean up" the internet and bring it and "piracy" and "terrorism" under control.
As far as music content, there already are 2 worlds. The world of the labels with intense marketing and promotion, wide distribution, and payola for airplay.
Then there is the other world of independent music, with little more than word of mouth marketing and virtually no access to brick and mortar distribution markets.
This even applies to available venues in which to perform. Many won't even acknowledge a promo/press kit from an unsigned or independent-label band. I know, as I am in an independent blues band. I won't reveal the bands' name here as I don't feel it appropriate.
The situation for independently created and produced music is changing slowly, but I don't expect it to occur without the media cartels fighting back with everything they have.
The biggest problem facing independent distribution is NOT global corporations; they have little to fear from independent developers. The biggest problem facing independent media is not the difficulty of production/distribution; the biggest problem is that THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE WILLING TO CREATE MEDIA!!
I was coming at the topic from my view as a musician, and I agree as far as software goes, the doors are wide open. There are better tools, developmental models, and online assistance available than ever before. Although I have released musical content, (yes, you can copy it for your friends..please?:P) I have yet to release any software. I'm learning fast, though!.
I *will*, however, forego any attempts at contributing content to amateur pr0n...at my age, it would be just wrong on so many levels.:-|
That's part of it, but not even close to all of it, or even the main goal, IMHO.
Even more important to the big media interests is keeping individuals and independent groups from being able to distribute content freely.
This is their biggest threat: the ability of anyone to create content and distribute it over the internet to anyone interested for free or whatever the individual or group feels is fair.
Without exclusive control over distribution and promotion, the whole media cartel collapses. Making proprietary DRM mandatory keeps the media cartel in control by locking out those without the ability to pay licensing costs, and/or making the terms of any such licensing such that it is useless for distributing independently created content.
Well...sort of. Free doesn't imply perpetual. I do agree with this point, but I'm more cautious in my backing for it. If a project dies, then whether the format was known or not doesn't really matter unless I'm prepared to pay a developer to get it imported into some new project, or do the work myself.
Actually, the pure F/OSS projects (as opposed to open projects that may use proprietary formats or libraries, or that have non-Free licensing terms) use open data format standards, which should make the data translatable or even straight-importable to another F/OSS application.
Also, you *do* have the source code, so you *can* modify it, or pay someone else to, if you desire. You don't have that option with closed-source, normally.
This is a key point - I've actually tried out many other packages to see if I could migrate away. None of them successfully imported my previous data files - they all got the balances wrong, the inter-account transfers wrong...nothing worked. Not even Quicken itself - the Mac version. So I'm a bit stuck at the moment, waiting for improvements and patiently filing bug reports.
Agreed, the state of migrational paths and tools is not all it could be, not helped at all by copyright, patent, DMCA, DRM, and other current IP control, regulation, and legislation.
Costs, labor, and time required to migrate make it a daunting task. On the plus side, the costs are generally one-time, with a minimally-costly and troublesome migration path from F/OSS app or platform to F/OSS app. or platform for future migrations.
I'd keep an eye on the major F/OSS tax/bookeeping software projects, and maybe even drop a forum post or an e-mail to the developers, stating what features/abilities/formats would be needed to be added or fixed to make using their software (and switching *away* from your current solution) more of a do-able, realistic task.
Absolutely, and that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm continuing to use Quicken 2002 under emulation, because it does the job and the job is rather important. But I'm not blindly following it - I do look around every so often to see if there's a place I can jump to.
Cheers, Ian
Excellent! I'm a believer in F/OSS, but I'm not fanatical. There is a real world where people have priorities, responsibilities, and immediate needs that *have* to be dealt with.
With the fairly-rapid pace of development in the F/OSS world, I'm confident that (barring additional IP restrictions/legislation or anti-interoperative measures by the proprietary vendors) migrational paths will continue to improve.
Thanks for your insightful, balanced, and well-written response!
That's a lot of cash and effort just to use quicken.
Quicken contains 13 years' worth of account data for me, including my business accounts and invoicing details. The monetary cost of getting access to that data is absolutely negligable compared to the data's worth to me.
Cheers Ian
I understand you need too keep your financial records accessible. However, myself, I would never let my data be tied up into a proprietary format.
What happens if Quicken goes belly-up, or gets bought out, or any of a thousand other things that could happen to cause support for Quicken and/or its' current data formats to cease?
I know that F/OSS tax/bookeeping software isn't as polished as its' Windows non-free brethren, but just the fact that I will always be able to access that data with whatever free and open-standard programs I wish to run makes up for the whistles and bells in my case.
I understand the devil is in the details, and there may be certain details and facts of your situation that make switching to a more open solution extremely difficult or impossible at this time.
I'd keep an eye on the major F/OSS tax/bookeeping software projects, and maybe even drop a forum post or an e-mail to the developers, stating what features/abilities/formats would be needed to be added or fixed to make using their software (and switching *away* from your current solution) more of a do-able, realistic task.
This position is not surprising. I imagine that *any* relaxations of the DMCA itself or its' interpretations would get an immediate rejection reaction from the copyright industry.
These aren't (in most cases) individual people with copyrights, these are a group of companies and corporations that profit from the current status-quo of copyright law.
Nothing new in a bunch of corporations trying to protect and increase their profits, morality and fairness be damned, nor the politicians with their hands out and a vote up for the highest bidder. That's just the way we got here.
A practical, workable, reasonably fair and minimally-destructive method for changing the above scenario? Now, *that* would be new and exciting!
WHere is the harm? You just stated the harm. Every minute and every dollar spent making linux work for the blind is a minute not spent making linux work better for the average user.
Actually, that's not quite true. One of the major bullet points for large corporations these days is complying with the myriad disabled worker regulations they must comply with regarding accessibility, etc.
Having a company workstation OS that can be configured for a disabled worker is a big plus, and would help adoption by the large corporations. My point being that improving accessibility for the disabled is a win-win, for both the corporations and disabled individuals.
Not saying that it would cause immediate migration or anything, but it *would* be a plus.
What are you people smoking? Seriously, Microsoft won't even give away their software to 3rd-world countries, let alone to anyone in the U.S.A.!
What, you want to pay the licensing costs for _every_single_machine_ you give away? How many more machines could you afford to refurbish and give away with the money you'd spend for legit Windows licenses? How many hours of internet access would it pay for?
If the people that end up with these machines *need* Windows, let them get it for themselves, as a school or employer that requires them having a computer with Windows will supply one or issue payout vouchers for what's required.
I have the feeling that >%80 won't even know the difference at first, and for common tasks it doesn't much matter..one e-mail client or word processing program is pretty much like another for the most common tasks. If they ask you why you can't install Windows on these PCs, explain that MS won't allow their software to be given away/transferred in a way that makes it easy and practical for you to stay within the law.
The thing that scares Microsoft and the astro-turfers and shills, is all the embarassing questions from a demographic who started out without adware, spyware, malware, virusses, trojans, and all the other nastiness that comes with Windows when it comes to trying convince them to buy it later.
Imagine Microsoft having to explain exactly *why* they should spend *very* scarce funds to add all those woes, compared to what they used on the PC that they got *FREE* that does all the common tasks very well, thankyou.
I'm sure Dell et al would also rather see more new hardware sold, rather than waves of refurbished PCs with *nix chugging away in poorer households.
I expect to see legislation introduced to hinder such giveaways of old refurbished hardware (if there isn't anything pending now I'm not aware of) like "environmentaly safe disposal" regulations or possibly electrical or FCC compliance rules to prohibit reuse/resale, maybe something similar to what Japan just passed. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/ 22/2144227
I do a lot of charity work, and deal with a lot of small community and volunteer charity groups. I just can't see it being practical for a small grassroots volunteer charity organization to deal with the costs, paperwork, and legal help it would require to give away a proprietary OS and stay legally in the clear, when just keeping the lease/rent, heat, lights, and phones paid is a monthly battle.
Strat
They should see the cracking tools for Yahoo, etc
on
Point and Click Cracking
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Seriously, websites abound with cracking/booting/keylogging programs for Yahoo chat, and many other protocols, but for some reason, it seems there are more written for Yahoo chat. I'm not including IRC tools, as it seems to me to be a different class, mostly CLI tools.
I'll sit in a Yahoo chatroom using gyach and FreeBSD, and I'll watch my pflog monitor and see dozens of scans, boot attempts, etc within a couple hours. (I love the chatroom "tough guys" that come in and threaten to "boot" me and "bluescreen" my PC..they get *really* frustrated when their little VB booter programs fall flat against a BSD box with a PF firewall and *nix chat client:D)
There are numerous chat "crews" that trade in "cracked" accounts/screen names. I've never had my account cracked, but I follow proper practice regarding passwords, which most don't.
I've had chatrooms I'm in fill up with an entire "crew" all trying simultaneously to "boot" me after one of their members fail. They finally tire and drift off with vague threats about cracking my account and having their "1337" friend ("..my buddy is certified by Microsoft, he'll crash your hard drive!":D) hack my PC.
Anyways, back on topic, there are hundreds of very slick-looking cracking and booting programs available for Yahoo/AIM/MSN, most free (as in beer).
If there are programs just for *chat* that are this slick GUI-wise, it doesn't shock me at all that there are similarly-polished underground tools for other tasks and protocols.
A kid in high school stood on our principal, and they put him in jail!
Oh, you mean principle, my bad.
Ack, busted!:D However, I would have chosen to lay with mine (principal, that is), she was hot! Good thing disciplinary actions got you sent to the boys' Dean, or her office would have been filled every day!:-P
Funny, though, is that saying repeatedly, "I don't recall", "I don't remember", etc. often works well for US Presidents (like Reagan) testifying in front of Congress, CxOs, etc. in not really being helpful in a legal case. It certainly seems to be how the Libby defense is trying to go: Libby was too preoccupied to recall the details of his various conversations with any clarity for the days in question. If he did let slip VP's name, it was an innocent mistake. Blah blah blah.
Lest we forget, it also worked for the Clintons et al in the Whitewater scandal.
The Republicans are hardly alone here. Politicians of both parties seem to be equally afflicted with Alzheimers' when it comes to potentially-harmful (to themselves) testimony. Some hilights from the last Democratic administrations' troubles here. http://www.uhuh.com/clinton/hrc-hits.htm
Just another argument for encryption, and perhaps also for some method of storing information about seperate subjects seperately so that only some subset of the encrypted data need be decrypted, and not just everything.
Encryption wouldn't do much good when a judge will just order you to reveal the password(s) under pain of a contempt charge and jail until you concede, regardless of claims of bad memory, etc. There could also be destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice charges for wiping or destroying the hardrives.
Keeping the data private from investigators is possible, if one is willing to spend some serious time in the justice and penal systems. I'm all for standing on ones' principals, but when you're looking at a long stretch in prison, with a whole life, a career, and a family to consider, priorities can change in a hurry.
..Just go to the polls this November, and vote against the Republicans..
I only wished it were that easy..both parties have done and will do grievous harm to citizens' rights and freedoms.
History shows that Democrats have been about equally as bad as Republicans about "bending" the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. I'm old enough to remember some of the things that *both* parties have pulled off, or attempted to pull off regarding freedom.
I'm sure that's one reason the schools in the U.S. have been allowed to degrade into a giant daycare system. If the populace never learns the history, then there's no need for those in power to think up new ways to subjugate people. Just let apathy and ignorance do all the work for them.
Until some sort of major changes are made to increase politicians' and judges' accountability and decrease the opportunities for graft and power-brokering, I don't see this trend toward a controlled populace stopping, sadly.
The other problem with live music venues is that (at least here in Perth, Australia), more and more live venues (pubs etc) are either going away (because the land is more valuable with a nice new apartment block on it) or being hobbled because a nice new apartment block goes up next door and even though the pub has been there (and been playing live music) a lot longer than the apartment block has been there, the people who move into the new apartment block have been able to convince councils, government departments etc to force the pub next door to stop making so much noise.
Yes, that's another problem we here in the States share, especially near prime areas like beaches and coastlines in the south with condos springing up side-by-side in many areas.
The problem is nearly as bad up here between Detroit and Chicago, the difference being all the "downtown renovation", etc type projects all these once-strong industrial-powered and financed towns are coming up with in an attempt to recover from the huge industrial exodus in these parts.
It's very sad, as the area from Chicago to Detroit has a huge amount of blues and other talent, but there's hardly anyplace for a band or artist starting out to hone their skills, or "pay their dues", so to speak.
I'm hoping this might help bands/artists have a better chance at getting heard, so at least there is *some* route left to making it to where at least an owner/manager of one of the few, highly sought-after venues that are left might have heard of them, and consider them seriously for a spot on the calendar.
At the local blues venue here, they're booked ahead for ages, and name, national acts are appearing..and this place only holds about 100-120 people! The competition between all the local bands has driven the pay to nothing...literally. You get either $5 or $10 cover from the door and 1 well drink/beer per set.
Where we make money is playing all the festivals, etc during the spring/summer/fall seasons. If we had to start out again playing small clubs, we'd probably end up going broke.
you also need not suffer the consequences of second hand smoke . . . the number one reason to NOT see a live band these days, IMO.
You're much more at risk of dying in a traffic accident on the way there and back or getting mugged in the parking lot.
Other than that, the major reason most people don't go to live shows much anymore is the fact there are fewer and fewer venues for bands to play in, for one.
Most small to medium sized clubs these days are going to karaoke and DJs due to the vanishingly-small-and-shrinking profits clubs these days can generate due to increasing costs of insurance, licenses, and taxes.
I have no evidence other than my own and friends' anecdotal evidence as gigging musicians, but where smoking has been banned in bars and clubs, the venues for blues and jazz have taken a huge hit in attendance.
Many are either reducing their live music schedule, or eliminating live music altogether due to the drop in attendance at these smaller local venues after smoking bans were implemented.
Seems like the "working Joes" going out on the weekend to drink some pitchers and listen to music are now either finding other things to do, or traveling out of town to venues that are friendlier to patrons.
Not voicing an opinion here on my views on smoking, just noting what I've experienced as someone whose livelyhood is somewhat dependent on there being venues to play at, and noticing the list getting shorter when certain things happen.
Actually apparently these are not even live. They are recorded daily and rebroadcast. From TFA: Thom uses a webcam to record a nightly performance before broadcasting it on the net later in the evening. (Emphasis added.)
So actually this is just drumming up support by webcasting performances you do in your basement. Still a good idea, but as you say this is no substitute for going to a live show. Sure you save the costs of going on tour, but real music lovers will be much more willing to spend money on a live show, as compared to a low-resolution webcast.
A more interesting concept would be an actual live webcast with some measure of user-feedback. Maybe pre or post online chats/interviews with the band members? Maybe the band could take live requests? Maybe the band could adjust their performance based on the number of viewers and the demographics? ("I see alot of people logging in from London... welcome! This one is for you...").
I'm looking at doing something like that right now for the band I'm in. I'm the "computer guy" in the band (run linux, a couple *BSDs, OpenSolaris, etc) so, I'm the one they ask about things like this.
The biggest obstacle I've encountered so far to doing a "live" webconcert from a venue like a club, festival, and even many larger theatres and auditoriums is lack of high speed connectivity.
I'm currently talking with the local blues association and one of the local clubs that is a heavy blues/live music supporter and advocate about getting something like this to happen.
The only option for anything other than dialup is cable broadband (too far from a CO for DSL/ADSL).
One of the concerns the club owner has is if this will make him liable for anything related to playing of cover tunes of copyrighted material, or possibly legal concerns if, for instance, a female patron has a "wardrobe malfunction" after imbibing a little too much.
Having the connection in someone other than the properties' leasees' or owners' name is also verboten by the local cable monopoly, so having it in the blues associations' name is out.
Also, because it's a commercial-zoned property and a buisiness, a commercial connection must be purchased.
Municipal/community wifi/wimax would sure help, but no chance of that here anytime soon. They're more worried at the moment with trying to raise enough money to keep a functioning fire and police dept.
So, for now, it looks like the most practical way is to broadcast/upload a show recorded earlier live. Too bad, as I'd love to play live to such a diverse audience, especially if there were an interactive component.
What a thrill as a musician to get "applause" from across the globe, while playing your favorite local venue!
Slashdot Mirror
I've been playing guitar for 34 years, and I *do* make my total living from playing, although that wasn't always true. I have no day job etc. I'm not rich, but I'm far from starving.
:-P) and buy you a beer after the show. I'll be the good-looking guy playing a cherry-burst G&L Legacy through a Seymour-Duncan 84-40 1-12" tube combo amp, and a black leather fedora. ;)
During the winter season, my band plays mostly bars and clubs for anywhere from $60-$75 per man per night upwards, 2-5 nights/week. Summers we do mostly bluesfests, fairs, and other larger, mostly outdoor venues which tend to pay much better. We've released 1 CD, with another CD we plan to cut this summer. We ask for a donation, but don't require it for downloads and charge $4 for a physical CD to cover media and artwork costs. We say right on the CD and the liner, "Copy-Friendly!..You May Copy This Music and Share It."
You would be surprised..only about %15 of downloads are with no donation, and most happily donate $10-$20.
As far as whether you believe me or not, that's on you, and there's not much I can do about it. If you had looked at my comment history, you'd see that I've previously said I won't post the bands' website URL or name my band, as I don't feel that would be appropriate.
However, if you're in Kalamazoo MI this coming April 21st, come to the State Theatre that evening, (no, we're not the headliner) you can listen for yourself, and I'll even give you a CD (if there are any left
Cheers!
Strat
Come on, just stop pirating and all of this would be a non-issue.
From an acquaintance of mine who actually creates entertainment for a living:
"I've also got too many friends dedicating their lives to creating art, struggling to get stay afloat, so Im gonna take this a little personally."
I actually create content (I'm in a blues band writing and performing original music) and we don't expect to make money from our recordings, as that buisiness model for primary revenue from content has been obsoleted by advances in technology.
Maybe your acquaintance and his friends should rethink their buisiness model? We produce CDs for promotional purposes and provide high-quality free downloads, but our revenue is mainly generated from performances and merchandise sales at our shows.
We encourage sharing of our music and performance videos, as that increases our fanbase and allows us more leverage in negotiating compensation for our shows, as the venues know attendance/ticket sales will be high.
Trying to mandate buggy-whip sales in the age of automobiles by trying to force people to have a buggy-whip inserted as a dongle before the car will start makes about as much sense as DRM.
Strat
there is att...
Yes, I included it to show that I'm not disagreeing with you, just making a humorous (or not) play on the names.
Cheers!
Strat
try a tracert yourself.
/.?!?
:-P)
I did.
Actually, it was the "traceroute" command since I'm using FreeBSD at the moment, but the results are shocking!!
Note line #'s 12+13.
*snippped*
6 tbr2-cl18.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.10.134) 19.178 ms 19.606 ms 31.842 ms
7 12.123.5.141 (12.123.5.141) 17.240 ms 17.023 ms 17.934 ms
8 att-gw.dfw.allegiance.net (192.205.32.226) 19.121 ms 18.471 ms 23.185 ms
9 dcr2-so-2-0-0.Denver.savvis.net (204.70.192.133) 47.744 ms 41.305 ms 43.063 ms
10 dcr1-so-2-0-0.SanFranciscosfo.savvis.net (204.70.192.114) 127.117 ms 87.600 ms 93.811 ms
11 dcr2-so-5-0-0.SanFranciscosfo.savvis.net (204.70.192.150) 121.773 ms 83.754 ms 83.437 ms
12 bhr1-pos-0-0.SantaClarasc8.savvis.net (208.172.156.198) 87.552 ms 85.487 ms 88.110 ms
13 csr1-ve243.santaclarasc8.savvis.net (66.35.194.50) 98.982 ms 87.815 ms 84.761 ms
14 66.35.212.174 (66.35.212.174) 95.510 ms 89.706 ms 89.609 ms
15 slashdot.org (66.35.250.150) 98.020 ms ! 86.793 ms ! 84.389 ms !
Is SCO now monitoring all internet traffic to
(Yes, I'm joking...or am I?
Strat
I don't deny that there is a lot of independent content. The comment I was responding to was arguing that the primary reason for DRM was to prevent people from accessing alternative content, and not to reduce privacy. While I am sure that they would prefer seeing you buying content from them rather than getting free independent content, I have seen no connection between that and the way that DRM has been handled so far. The large media companies have done plenty of nasty stuff for real without all of the player haters inventing additional, phony, evil motives for their actions.
I was coming from the point of view that DRM and companion legislation is in the cooking-frog stages, and hasn't *quite* gotten there *yet*.
I'm looking ahead to things like Trusted Computing and further future legislation trying to "clean up" the internet and bring it and "piracy" and "terrorism" under control.
As far as music content, there already are 2 worlds. The world of the labels with intense marketing and promotion, wide distribution, and payola for airplay.
Then there is the other world of independent music, with little more than word of mouth marketing and virtually no access to brick and mortar distribution markets.
This even applies to available venues in which to perform. Many won't even acknowledge a promo/press kit from an unsigned or independent-label band. I know, as I am in an independent blues band. I won't reveal the bands' name here as I don't feel it appropriate.
The situation for independently created and produced music is changing slowly, but I don't expect it to occur without the media cartels fighting back with everything they have.
Strat
The biggest problem facing independent distribution is NOT global corporations; they have little to fear from independent developers. The biggest problem facing independent media is not the difficulty of production/distribution; the biggest problem is that THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE WILLING TO CREATE MEDIA!!
:P) I have yet to release any software. I'm learning fast, though!.
:-|
I was coming at the topic from my view as a musician, and I agree as far as software goes, the doors are wide open. There are better tools, developmental models, and online assistance available than ever before. Although I have released musical content, (yes, you can copy it for your friends..please?
I *will*, however, forego any attempts at contributing content to amateur pr0n...at my age, it would be just wrong on so many levels.
Strat
Right on, it's all about pay-per-view.
That's part of it, but not even close to all of it, or even the main goal, IMHO.
Even more important to the big media interests is keeping individuals and independent groups from being able to distribute content freely.
This is their biggest threat: the ability of anyone to create content and distribute it over the internet to anyone interested for free or whatever the individual or group feels is fair.
Without exclusive control over distribution and promotion, the whole media cartel collapses. Making proprietary DRM mandatory keeps the media cartel in control by locking out those without the ability to pay licensing costs, and/or making the terms of any such licensing such that it is useless for distributing independently created content.
Strat
A practical, workable, reasonably fair and minimally-destructive method for changing the above scenario? Now, *that* would be new and exciting!
I would prefer a practical, workable, reasonably fair and maximally-destructive (to the RIAA/MPAA and their bought laws) method...
Well, if done elegantly, the two are not mutually exclusive.
Strat
Well...sort of. Free doesn't imply perpetual. I do agree with this point, but I'm more cautious in my backing for it. If a project dies, then whether the format was known or not doesn't really matter unless I'm prepared to pay a developer to get it imported into some new project, or do the work myself.
Actually, the pure F/OSS projects (as opposed to open projects that may use proprietary formats or libraries, or that have non-Free licensing terms) use open data format standards, which should make the data translatable or even straight-importable to another F/OSS application.
Also, you *do* have the source code, so you *can* modify it, or pay someone else to, if you desire. You don't have that option with closed-source, normally.
This is a key point - I've actually tried out many other packages to see if I could migrate away. None of them successfully imported my previous data files - they all got the balances wrong, the inter-account transfers wrong...nothing worked. Not even Quicken itself - the Mac version. So I'm a bit stuck at the moment, waiting for improvements and patiently filing bug reports.
Agreed, the state of migrational paths and tools is not all it could be, not helped at all by copyright, patent, DMCA, DRM, and other current IP control, regulation, and legislation.
Costs, labor, and time required to migrate make it a daunting task. On the plus side, the costs are generally one-time, with a minimally-costly and troublesome migration path from F/OSS app or platform to F/OSS app. or platform for future migrations.
I'd keep an eye on the major F/OSS tax/bookeeping software projects, and maybe even drop a forum post or an e-mail to the developers, stating what features/abilities/formats would be needed to be added or fixed to make using their software (and switching *away* from your current solution) more of a do-able, realistic task.
Absolutely, and that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm continuing to use Quicken 2002 under emulation, because it does the job and the job is rather important. But I'm not blindly following it - I do look around every so often to see if there's a place I can jump to.
Cheers,
Ian
Excellent! I'm a believer in F/OSS, but I'm not fanatical. There is a real world where people have priorities, responsibilities, and immediate needs that *have* to be dealt with.
With the fairly-rapid pace of development in the F/OSS world, I'm confident that (barring additional IP restrictions/legislation or anti-interoperative measures by the proprietary vendors) migrational paths will continue to improve.
Thanks for your insightful, balanced, and well-written response!
Cheers right back, and good luck!
Strat
That's a lot of cash and effort just to use quicken.
Quicken contains 13 years' worth of account data for me, including my business accounts and invoicing details. The monetary cost of getting access to that data is absolutely negligable compared to the data's worth to me.
Cheers
Ian
I understand you need too keep your financial records accessible. However, myself, I would never let my data be tied up into a proprietary format.
What happens if Quicken goes belly-up, or gets bought out, or any of a thousand other things that could happen to cause support for Quicken and/or its' current data formats to cease?
I know that F/OSS tax/bookeeping software isn't as polished as its' Windows non-free brethren, but just the fact that I will always be able to access that data with whatever free and open-standard programs I wish to run makes up for the whistles and bells in my case.
I understand the devil is in the details, and there may be certain details and facts of your situation that make switching to a more open solution extremely difficult or impossible at this time.
I'd keep an eye on the major F/OSS tax/bookeeping software projects, and maybe even drop a forum post or an e-mail to the developers, stating what features/abilities/formats would be needed to be added or fixed to make using their software (and switching *away* from your current solution) more of a do-able, realistic task.
Strat
This position is not surprising. I imagine that *any* relaxations of the DMCA itself or its' interpretations would get an immediate rejection reaction from the copyright industry.
These aren't (in most cases) individual people with copyrights, these are a group of companies and corporations that profit from the current status-quo of copyright law.
Nothing new in a bunch of corporations trying to protect and increase their profits, morality and fairness be damned, nor the politicians with their hands out and a vote up for the highest bidder. That's just the way we got here.
A practical, workable, reasonably fair and minimally-destructive method for changing the above scenario? Now, *that* would be new and exciting!
Strat
WHere is the harm? You just stated the harm. Every minute and every dollar spent making linux work for the blind is a minute not spent making linux work better for the average user.
Actually, that's not quite true. One of the major bullet points for large corporations these days is complying with the myriad disabled worker regulations they must comply with regarding accessibility, etc.
Having a company workstation OS that can be configured for a disabled worker is a big plus, and would help adoption by the large corporations. My point being that improving accessibility for the disabled is a win-win, for both the corporations and disabled individuals.
Not saying that it would cause immediate migration or anything, but it *would* be a plus.
Strat
What are you people smoking? Seriously, Microsoft won't even give away their software to 3rd-world countries, let alone to anyone in the U.S.A.!
/ 22/2144227
What, you want to pay the licensing costs for _every_single_machine_ you give away? How many more machines could you afford to refurbish and give away with the money you'd spend for legit Windows licenses? How many hours of internet access would it pay for?
If the people that end up with these machines *need* Windows, let them get it for themselves, as a school or employer that requires them having a computer with Windows will supply one or issue payout vouchers for what's required.
I have the feeling that >%80 won't even know the difference at first, and for common tasks it doesn't much matter..one e-mail client or word processing program is pretty much like another for the most common tasks. If they ask you why you can't install Windows on these PCs, explain that MS won't allow their software to be given away/transferred in a way that makes it easy and practical for you to stay within the law.
The thing that scares Microsoft and the astro-turfers and shills, is all the embarassing questions from a demographic who started out without adware, spyware, malware, virusses, trojans, and all the other nastiness that comes with Windows when it comes to trying convince them to buy it later.
Imagine Microsoft having to explain exactly *why* they should spend *very* scarce funds to add all those woes, compared to what they used on the PC that they got *FREE* that does all the common tasks very well, thankyou.
I'm sure Dell et al would also rather see more new hardware sold, rather than waves of refurbished PCs with *nix chugging away in poorer households.
I expect to see legislation introduced to hinder such giveaways of old refurbished hardware (if there isn't anything pending now I'm not aware of) like "environmentaly safe disposal" regulations or possibly electrical or FCC compliance rules to prohibit reuse/resale, maybe something similar to what Japan just passed. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02
I do a lot of charity work, and deal with a lot of small community and volunteer charity groups. I just can't see it being practical for a small grassroots volunteer charity organization to deal with the costs, paperwork, and legal help it would require to give away a proprietary OS and stay legally in the clear, when just keeping the lease/rent, heat, lights, and phones paid is a monthly battle.
Strat
Seriously, websites abound with cracking/booting/keylogging programs for Yahoo chat, and many other protocols, but for some reason, it seems there are more written for Yahoo chat. I'm not including IRC tools, as it seems to me to be a different class, mostly CLI tools.
:D)
:D) hack my PC.
I'll sit in a Yahoo chatroom using gyach and FreeBSD, and I'll watch my pflog monitor and see dozens of scans, boot attempts, etc within a couple hours. (I love the chatroom "tough guys" that come in and threaten to "boot" me and "bluescreen" my PC..they get *really* frustrated when their little VB booter programs fall flat against a BSD box with a PF firewall and *nix chat client
There are numerous chat "crews" that trade in "cracked" accounts/screen names. I've never had my account cracked, but I follow proper practice regarding passwords, which most don't.
I've had chatrooms I'm in fill up with an entire "crew" all trying simultaneously to "boot" me after one of their members fail. They finally tire and drift off with vague threats about cracking my account and having their "1337" friend ("..my buddy is certified by Microsoft, he'll crash your hard drive!"
Anyways, back on topic, there are hundreds of very slick-looking cracking and booting programs available for Yahoo/AIM/MSN, most free (as in beer).
If there are programs just for *chat* that are this slick GUI-wise, it doesn't shock me at all that there are similarly-polished underground tools for other tasks and protocols.
Strat
I'm all for standing on ones' principals...
:D However, I would have chosen to lay with mine (principal, that is), she was hot! Good thing disciplinary actions got you sent to the boys' Dean, or her office would have been filled every day! :-P
A kid in high school stood on our principal, and they put him in jail!
Oh, you mean principle, my bad.
Ack, busted!
Strat
Funny, though, is that saying repeatedly, "I don't recall", "I don't remember", etc. often works well for US Presidents (like Reagan) testifying in front of Congress, CxOs, etc. in not really being helpful in a legal case. It certainly seems to be how the Libby defense is trying to go: Libby was too preoccupied to recall the details of his various conversations with any clarity for the days in question. If he did let slip VP's name, it was an innocent mistake. Blah blah blah.
Lest we forget, it also worked for the Clintons et al in the Whitewater scandal.
The Republicans are hardly alone here. Politicians of both parties seem to be equally afflicted with Alzheimers' when it comes to potentially-harmful (to themselves) testimony. Some hilights from the last Democratic administrations' troubles here. http://www.uhuh.com/clinton/hrc-hits.htm
Strat
Just another argument for encryption, and perhaps also for some method of storing information about seperate subjects seperately so that only some subset of the encrypted data need be decrypted, and not just everything.
Encryption wouldn't do much good when a judge will just order you to reveal the password(s) under pain of a contempt charge and jail until you concede, regardless of claims of bad memory, etc. There could also be destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice charges for wiping or destroying the hardrives.
Keeping the data private from investigators is possible, if one is willing to spend some serious time in the justice and penal systems. I'm all for standing on ones' principals, but when you're looking at a long stretch in prison, with a whole life, a career, and a family to consider, priorities can change in a hurry.
IANAL, YMMV, etc...
Strat
..Just go to the polls this November, and vote against the Republicans..
I only wished it were that easy..both parties have done and will do grievous harm to citizens' rights and freedoms.
History shows that Democrats have been about equally as bad as Republicans about "bending" the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. I'm old enough to remember some of the things that *both* parties have pulled off, or attempted to pull off regarding freedom.
I'm sure that's one reason the schools in the U.S. have been allowed to degrade into a giant daycare system. If the populace never learns the history, then there's no need for those in power to think up new ways to subjugate people. Just let apathy and ignorance do all the work for them.
Until some sort of major changes are made to increase politicians' and judges' accountability and decrease the opportunities for graft and power-brokering, I don't see this trend toward a controlled populace stopping, sadly.
Strat
rjshields wrote:
;)
Laugh.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!1
I think the badgers [badgerbrewery.com] have got to me.
AC wrote:
Badgers live in "sets" don't they?
I believe "case" or "keg" are the terms for which you search, although I understand the wild variety are sometimes known as a "tub".
Strat
all these comments and noone has yet said it... ..ok...I'll do it, you've forced me..
Is this a "badger hole"?
Hey, someone *had* to say it. Laugh.
Strat
The other problem with live music venues is that (at least here in Perth, Australia), more and more live venues (pubs etc) are either going away (because the land is more valuable with a nice new apartment block on it) or being hobbled because a nice new apartment block goes up next door and even though the pub has been there (and been playing live music) a lot longer than the apartment block has been there, the people who move into the new apartment block have been able to convince councils, government departments etc to force the pub next door to stop making so much noise.
Yes, that's another problem we here in the States share, especially near prime areas like beaches and coastlines in the south with condos springing up side-by-side in many areas.
The problem is nearly as bad up here between Detroit and Chicago, the difference being all the "downtown renovation", etc type projects all these once-strong industrial-powered and financed towns are coming up with in an attempt to recover from the huge industrial exodus in these parts.
It's very sad, as the area from Chicago to Detroit has a huge amount of blues and other talent, but there's hardly anyplace for a band or artist starting out to hone their skills, or "pay their dues", so to speak.
I'm hoping this might help bands/artists have a better chance at getting heard, so at least there is *some* route left to making it to where at least an owner/manager of one of the few, highly sought-after venues that are left might have heard of them, and consider them seriously for a spot on the calendar.
At the local blues venue here, they're booked ahead for ages, and name, national acts are appearing..and this place only holds about 100-120 people! The competition between all the local bands has driven the pay to nothing...literally. You get either $5 or $10 cover from the door and 1 well drink/beer per set.
Where we make money is playing all the festivals, etc during the spring/summer/fall seasons. If we had to start out again playing small clubs, we'd probably end up going broke.
Strat
you also need not suffer the consequences of second hand smoke . . . the number one reason to NOT see a live band these days, IMO.
You're much more at risk of dying in a traffic accident on the way there and back or getting mugged in the parking lot.
Other than that, the major reason most people don't go to live shows much anymore is the fact there are fewer and fewer venues for bands to play in, for one.
Most small to medium sized clubs these days are going to karaoke and DJs due to the vanishingly-small-and-shrinking profits clubs these days can generate due to increasing costs of insurance, licenses, and taxes.
I have no evidence other than my own and friends' anecdotal evidence as gigging musicians, but where smoking has been banned in bars and clubs, the venues for blues and jazz have taken a huge hit in attendance.
Many are either reducing their live music schedule, or eliminating live music altogether due to the drop in attendance at these smaller local venues after smoking bans were implemented.
Seems like the "working Joes" going out on the weekend to drink some pitchers and listen to music are now either finding other things to do, or traveling out of town to venues that are friendlier to patrons.
Not voicing an opinion here on my views on smoking, just noting what I've experienced as someone whose livelyhood is somewhat dependent on there being venues to play at, and noticing the list getting shorter when certain things happen.
Strat
Actually apparently these are not even live. They are recorded daily and rebroadcast. From TFA:
Thom uses a webcam to record a nightly performance before broadcasting it on the net later in the evening. (Emphasis added.)
So actually this is just drumming up support by webcasting performances you do in your basement. Still a good idea, but as you say this is no substitute for going to a live show. Sure you save the costs of going on tour, but real music lovers will be much more willing to spend money on a live show, as compared to a low-resolution webcast.
A more interesting concept would be an actual live webcast with some measure of user-feedback. Maybe pre or post online chats/interviews with the band members? Maybe the band could take live requests? Maybe the band could adjust their performance based on the number of viewers and the demographics? ("I see alot of people logging in from London... welcome! This one is for you...").
I'm looking at doing something like that right now for the band I'm in. I'm the "computer guy" in the band (run linux, a couple *BSDs, OpenSolaris, etc) so, I'm the one they ask about things like this.
The biggest obstacle I've encountered so far to doing a "live" webconcert from a venue like a club, festival, and even many larger theatres and auditoriums is lack of high speed connectivity.
I'm currently talking with the local blues association and one of the local clubs that is a heavy blues/live music supporter and advocate about getting something like this to happen.
The only option for anything other than dialup is cable broadband (too far from a CO for DSL/ADSL).
One of the concerns the club owner has is if this will make him liable for anything related to playing of cover tunes of copyrighted material, or possibly legal concerns if, for instance, a female patron has a "wardrobe malfunction" after imbibing a little too much.
Having the connection in someone other than the properties' leasees' or owners' name is also verboten by the local cable monopoly, so having it in the blues associations' name is out.
Also, because it's a commercial-zoned property and a buisiness, a commercial connection must be purchased.
Municipal/community wifi/wimax would sure help, but no chance of that here anytime soon. They're more worried at the moment with trying to raise enough money to keep a functioning fire and police dept.
So, for now, it looks like the most practical way is to broadcast/upload a show recorded earlier live. Too bad, as I'd love to play live to such a diverse audience, especially if there were an interactive component.
What a thrill as a musician to get "applause" from across the globe, while playing your favorite local venue!
Strat
..gee, hope it's not a real cooling vest for pilots of a real version of this: http://www.mechdropzone.com/images/mechs/atlas.gif
:D
Then I thought nah, I'd never believe I wouldn't be happy to see one of those for real.
War with these things *would not* be something to be happy about being anywhere near I'd imagine, though.
(Yes, I know about the one a guy was building in Alaska or something, not quite the same as a fusion-powered fully-functional example.)
Strat
...no worries about places like mp3.com..
:-P
Oops, that should have been "allofmp3.com"
I previewed, honest! Gotta tell the G/F that decaf is off the grocery list.