How much money could Nintendo possibly lose from clone NES systems?
It is more about the "Nintendo" name (and its derivatives) than about the hardware. Unlike patents (which cover hardware), a trademark has to be enforced in order to remain valid. If people started making "NES clones" all around and Nintendo didn't do anything about it, they would lose the trademark on "Nintendo", which would be a very, very bad thing for them.
Trademark law forces them to prevent people from using their name for making clones and roms.
Even if the US regulates what can be exported, how will that stop other countries from developing their own quantum computers with the same technology?
I've seen those around *alot*, so dunno where you're getting too complex a change from.
Actually, I'm 25, and the only time I ever saw a power outlet that had only 2 holes is in my grandpa's garage (which was built before World War 1). Every single outlet in the house have a 3rd grounding hole. Why is it that the male part of almost anything that you can plug doesn't have a 3 pin for the grounding? When you get the third pin, there is no way in hell you can plug it the wrong way, and you won't need a "polarized plug" ever again.
Honestly, do you really have power outlets that have only 2 holes in them (in North America at least, I dunno the form factor of outlets worldwide)?
And if I'm feeling a need for retro, I can always install emulators for NES, SNES, GB, GBA, mame, etc.
How about trying to play any of those new games that force a firmware upgrade? Or are you saying that the portable console you bought for $250 can only play the limited list of titles that have been released in the first month?
...and I've never been able to figure out why people would want frame rates faster than their monitor can scan!
... or that the eye can see. Movies are shot at 24 FPS because the human-eye sees about 18 FPS. Never heard anyone complain that the movie-theater lacked framerate. But if nVidia or ATI were to make a video card that can play the latest games at 30 FPS, it would be considered bad. Go figure.
If Nintendo was really targetting the casual gamer, they would build in more of the features like DVD players and the like that would appeal to people who aren't that into games.
People who aren't that much into games and want a DVD player either already have one, or will buy a DVD player instead of a gaming console. Being able to play DVD's might have been a selling point last-gen, but this is 2006 (2005 for Xbox360), and people who currently don't own a DVD player either don't want one, or can't afford a gaming console anyway (plus, I bet the combined price of a DVD player and a Revolution will still be lower than a PS3 or Xbox360).
Hope seems to spring eternal in the MS windows world. I've been hearing people say essentially the same thing since NT3.5. It hasn't happened yet, and unfortunately I don't believe it's going to happen with "vista" either.
And the reason why it's not going to happen is games. Any game that is available today will simply not run in user mode, be it XP or Vista, simply because their copy-protection schemes require access to some files and registers that a regular user should never have access to. When people get Vista and realize their games don't work, and they either go to forums or call tech support, they will be told that they need to run the game in admin mode. To avoid switching all the time, users will then always use the admin mode, and there goes all the security through the window...
We don't _need_ ipv6 this very second. It's not cool or sexy. It doesn't really bring anything fun and/or critial to the table. It was developed to help catch future problems of ipv4 before they became critical. It's not going to be a hot button issue until we REALLY need ipv6.
All that's required though is for porn website to somehow require IPv6. Then you'd see major adoption of it.
the shift to a parallel system while the old system still works fine just isn't going to happen in droves.
The real question though is "Do we really want to wait until the old system finally breaks and nothing works anymore before making the change?". The old system still works, but we know it won't work forever, and we know we need to change it. Why wait till it breaks?
(Obligatory car analogy) When you put gas in your car, there's still gas left in it, so it can still work. Yet you don't wait till you go dry to put some more gas in.
The problem with that approach is that you end up with something like Batman's utility belt: cell phone, mp3 player, PDA, camera, batarang, bat hook, etc.
... which increases your geek rank... how can that be bad?
You are not even allowed to call yourself an engineer without getting that license. Basically, if this system was in place for programmers the programmer would have to take legal responsibility for his code.
I am a software engineer. I have an engineering degree in software engineering, and I have an engineering license in order to say I am a software engineer. Under law and deontology, I am responsible for the quality of the work I deliver to my customer. However, the definition of customer is somewhat vague, and it goes like "the one who pays me for the work I do". Basically, *my* customer is my boss. If I were to be a simple non-engineer programmer, I would still be responsible for the work I do for my boss, and he could just as well fire me, so "having a license" doesn't change anything.
The corporations should be able to speak their minds, about what they want, but they shouldn't be giving money to them. That's the same as a bribe. Only personal donations should be allowed. And it should probably be capped, otherwise, private citizens are committing bribery too.
That's exactly the way it works up here in Quebec. From the Election Act
90. Every contribution must be made by the elector himself out of his own property.
91. The total of contributions to each party, independent Member and independent candidate by the same elector during the same calendar year shall not exceed the amount of $3 000. In the case of a party, the amount may be paid in whole or in part to one or another of its party authorities.
Shouldn't be too hard to adapt to the US... that is, if the US would accept influence from French Canadians...
Claim 5: a communication process by a former employee which results in a boss throwing a chair across their office and then threatening to "kill Google".
But I just patented killing Google now, so if anybody tries, I'm gonna get rich!!! Actually, wouldn't it be a very nice way to protect a company? If such stupid things as storylines can be patented, the killing of a company can be done too. Patent the bankruptcy of your own company, and sue whoever has caused it.
Since when do parents absolutely need to buy a $500 toy for Christmas? Since their kids asked for it? Why can't the parents say "no" to such a ridiculous request? Would it be too hard to actually do your job as a parent and not give your kid everything he asks for every time?
and the Linux options remain immature, especially in Japan.
Are you talking about the Japanese version (localization) of Linux distros? Or does Japan not have access to the same Internet as the rest of the world? If you can use an English operating system, then all the mature Linux distros are out there, no matter where you live. If you need a Japanese version, the best way to make it happen fast is to help them with the translation.
Does that mean that only a person with administrative privileges gets to listen to the CD on their computer? or will the cd play even if the DRM software was not installed? If it's the former.. wow, why on earth are people still buying CDS from this company?
Maybe because most people don't even know there's a "safer" mode that one can run Windows without administrative priviliges? Such DRM rootkits are possible because the average Joe has no clue about :
admin vs. user
what DRM is
what a rootkit is
all the screwing up the customer that is taking place
Face it, only geeks care about that stuff. Sad indeed, but true.
Well, see, you apparently didn't read his entire blog about the issue. Him saying that he didn't see that part of the EULA (blantantly written at the top) but he also didn't notice that another CD he recently bought from Amazon was crippled by DRM yet his screenshots of the Amazon page show (rather blatantly) that the CD is DRMd.
"This CD is DRM'ed" and "This CD will install a rootkit on your computer" are not synonyms.
Slashdot Mirror
It is more about the "Nintendo" name (and its derivatives) than about the hardware. Unlike patents (which cover hardware), a trademark has to be enforced in order to remain valid. If people started making "NES clones" all around and Nintendo didn't do anything about it, they would lose the trademark on "Nintendo", which would be a very, very bad thing for them.
Trademark law forces them to prevent people from using their name for making clones and roms.
PATENTS!!!
Actually, I'm 25, and the only time I ever saw a power outlet that had only 2 holes is in my grandpa's garage (which was built before World War 1). Every single outlet in the house have a 3rd grounding hole. Why is it that the male part of almost anything that you can plug doesn't have a 3 pin for the grounding? When you get the third pin, there is no way in hell you can plug it the wrong way, and you won't need a "polarized plug" ever again.
Honestly, do you really have power outlets that have only 2 holes in them (in North America at least, I dunno the form factor of outlets worldwide)?
How about good parenting? Maybe a day of cross-country skiing? How about building a fort in the snow with him? Maybe a snowball fight even...
If your kid needs either a Revolution, a 360 or a PS3 in order to be happy, then you failed miserably in your job as a parent.
How about trying to play any of those new games that force a firmware upgrade? Or are you saying that the portable console you bought for $250 can only play the limited list of titles that have been released in the first month?
People who aren't that much into games and want a DVD player either already have one, or will buy a DVD player instead of a gaming console. Being able to play DVD's might have been a selling point last-gen, but this is 2006 (2005 for Xbox360), and people who currently don't own a DVD player either don't want one, or can't afford a gaming console anyway (plus, I bet the combined price of a DVD player and a Revolution will still be lower than a PS3 or Xbox360).
Yes... it then goes to say "Infingement of a copyright licence is a criminal offence." I couldn't read the rest, was laughing to much...
And the reason why it's not going to happen is games. Any game that is available today will simply not run in user mode, be it XP or Vista, simply because their copy-protection schemes require access to some files and registers that a regular user should never have access to. When people get Vista and realize their games don't work, and they either go to forums or call tech support, they will be told that they need to run the game in admin mode. To avoid switching all the time, users will then always use the admin mode, and there goes all the security through the window...
Going for the lowest-bidder is usually a very bad thing. Unfortunately, that's what most companies do.
All that's required though is for porn website to somehow require IPv6. Then you'd see major adoption of it.
The real question though is "Do we really want to wait until the old system finally breaks and nothing works anymore before making the change?". The old system still works, but we know it won't work forever, and we know we need to change it. Why wait till it breaks?
(Obligatory car analogy) When you put gas in your car, there's still gas left in it, so it can still work. Yet you don't wait till you go dry to put some more gas in.
And based on most of the stuff he renamed in the past, it will probably sound like Freedomland or something like that...
I am a software engineer. I have an engineering degree in software engineering, and I have an engineering license in order to say I am a software engineer. Under law and deontology, I am responsible for the quality of the work I deliver to my customer. However, the definition of customer is somewhat vague, and it goes like "the one who pays me for the work I do". Basically, *my* customer is my boss. If I were to be a simple non-engineer programmer, I would still be responsible for the work I do for my boss, and he could just as well fire me, so "having a license" doesn't change anything.
As I asked just a little earlier, if Mario 64 wasn't the first, which game was?
If it was not Super Mario 64, which one was it then?
That's exactly the way it works up here in Quebec. From the Election Act
Shouldn't be too hard to adapt to the US... that is, if the US would accept influence from French Canadians...
Some people still have VCR's... and not everybody has digital cable...
But I just patented killing Google now, so if anybody tries, I'm gonna get rich!!! Actually, wouldn't it be a very nice way to protect a company? If such stupid things as storylines can be patented, the killing of a company can be done too. Patent the bankruptcy of your own company, and sue whoever has caused it.
Will they even ship 2 million units in 2005? or does "a memory card" count as a "hardware unit" too?
Since when do parents absolutely need to buy a $500 toy for Christmas? Since their kids asked for it? Why can't the parents say "no" to such a ridiculous request? Would it be too hard to actually do your job as a parent and not give your kid everything he asks for every time?
Are you talking about the Japanese version (localization) of Linux distros? Or does Japan not have access to the same Internet as the rest of the world? If you can use an English operating system, then all the mature Linux distros are out there, no matter where you live. If you need a Japanese version, the best way to make it happen fast is to help them with the translation.
Maybe because most people don't even know there's a "safer" mode that one can run Windows without administrative priviliges? Such DRM rootkits are possible because the average Joe has no clue about :
Face it, only geeks care about that stuff. Sad indeed, but true.
"This CD is DRM'ed" and "This CD will install a rootkit on your computer" are not synonyms.