This is what the record companies are scared of, and should be.
Even if the products AllofMP3.com offered were priced the same as the "official" product, such as itunes (ie: 99c per song or whatever) the AllofMP3 offering is more compelling.
It's a better product.
Content companies, wake up! DRM makes your product less valuable to the consumer, even if it makes your product more valuable (per copy) to you.
I agree that correct spelling and grammar is desirable but it is hardly critical. As long as it is readable, and I can understand what the poster is saying I guess it's OK.
And while I am on the subject, how do you propose we overcome these issues with an international readership? As an Australian, I find the US spelling of words such as "color, savior and mom" to be jarring.
Incidentally, when I was quite young (I don't know, maybe 9 or so) I wrote a short story for school which I had set in the United States. One of the characters called out to his mother, which I spelt "Mom" and I was marked incorrect for spelling it that way, even though I thought it was justified. I remember being quite disappointed.
While the lack of "last-mile" bandwidth is a concern, I don't think it's a killer.
You might not be able to say "I want to watch a movie right now" and get it on demand but whats wrong with a Netflix-like queue of films you would like to see and "trickle" download system?
You could list 5 films you liked, and the system could merrily go off and trickle download 20 films that people who also liked the first 5 liked. You don;t have to watch them all, or even pay for them.
HDD space is becoming less and less of a concern and you could use as little or as much of your available bandwidth as you like, depending on how often you want to watch.
"Invisible interference with the apes. This really needs a lot of work to be anything near reasonable, but it is closest to having an explanation. DNA sample on touch, subsequent EM manipulation of subject DNA. Certainly not possible now (much less when 2001 was written), but EM does have bio effects, and there might be a path to reason here. The problem is, 2001 didn't follow one, so it fails the test. Ding. "
It just goes to show that your frame of reference is everything. I don't see this as some magic obelisk which comes down and "changes" the apes so that they can evolve, I see it as the first clear evidence that the apes have seen which indicates that there is so much more than their "little world" It awakens the curiosity centres in their brains, which are already there, but untapped. In other words the obelisk is simply a marker which inspires the apes to further themselves.
Maybe it's just me though. I've always been a little bit different....
I'm going to assume you haven't been foloowing development of HL2. if you had, you would realise that this is exactly whats happening this time around. CS on the source engine is being given away, free, out of the box (or pumped out via STEAM) with your purchase of HL2, which also includes the development tools so theose very same modders can go nuts. They have even made a special effort to make it as simple as possible for Mod developers to migrate their old games to the new engine.
There! everybody wins, and their is much rejoicing!
i'm sympathetic to your plight here because I mostly agree. I'm one of those people who get pissed off because my state government will gladly shell out millions of $$$$ to fund a new fucking "football" stadium but will dither and nitpick about a few million for scientific research, or even a new hospital ward, or whatever.
However, and I preface this here by admitting I have no idea what a 'photonic crystal', is, does, or why you think it's so cool, but i suggest that someone, somewhere at the end of all this research will get a financial benefit.
expecting hordes of people to freely hand over CPU cycles and electricity to power your research without a benefit is a little naive. it doesn't HAVE to be a financial benefit (as SETI@Home proves) but people have to be given something in order to be compelled to participate. it might be credibility with peers or the knowledge that they were the person who decoded the alien or some actually cash, but whatever it is I think recent successes with these sorts of projects show that a little bit goes a long way.
MS have no option but to try. Thats what it means to compete. Try as hard as you can to win. MS can't help it if it's competitors are not as successful.
No one goes into business with a plan to be "just about as popular" as a competitor!
Just another reason to add to my list why i will never buy another piece of music again, regardless of whether the deal the RIAA has sealed with Satan expires and the organisation is taken over by Jesus H. Christ himself.
It's not like they will miss my monetary input, I haven't bought a CD since 1998 or so, but it's indicative of how irrelevant the organisation has become.
I would prefer to buy a quality product from a non-specialist vendor than a crap one from a specialist. Thats not to say that this has occured in this case but making blanket assesments like that seem silly IMHO.
I don't know what he was suggesting but my take on this is that the companies involved either do exactly what you suggest or pay the overtime that the damn staff work. There is NO excuse for deliberately shaving hours off the books. After all, if the staff stole so much as one chocolate bar you can bet they will be sacked before they can blink. It cuts both ways.
"...the media coverage about how it is now illegal to watch DVDs while biking because some idiot gave it a try and killed himself. "
We certainly don't get that coverage when people in cars do that, or are changing the radio station, or talking to a passenger, or using a mobile phone, or adjusting their seat, or eating a hamburger, or putting on lipstick, or reading the paper or sending email via their PDA, etc, etc. I ride motorcycles and I see this sort of thing every day on my commute. It boggles my mind more and more distracting items are put into cars when governments worldwide are trying to reduce the road toll. These, of course, are the same governments that make money off of roadside billboards- do they want people watching the road, or reading the signs?
"That's 1,300 US dollars. Lets just say that it isn't ever going to be a competitor to Tivo."
Which, unfortunately, doesn't really address the issue as TiVo (or any other DVR) is not available in Australia. Even Microsofts' WME is not available here yet. Personally I reckon there is a market for this device and as soon as I manage to collect enough lunch money to order one I am going to.
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I have long believed that "free with restrictions" is less valuable than "paid for with no restrictions"
This story appears to support this assertion.
I know I'd rather use emusic.com, for example, than itunes at any price. Anyone else?
This is what the record companies are scared of, and should be.
Even if the products AllofMP3.com offered were priced the same as the "official" product, such as itunes (ie: 99c per song or whatever) the AllofMP3 offering is more compelling.
It's a better product.
Content companies, wake up! DRM makes your product less valuable to the consumer, even if it makes your product more valuable (per copy) to you.
I agree that correct spelling and grammar is desirable but it is hardly critical. As long as it is readable, and I can understand what the poster is saying I guess it's OK.
And while I am on the subject, how do you propose we overcome these issues with an international readership? As an Australian, I find the US spelling of words such as "color, savior and mom" to be jarring.
Incidentally, when I was quite young (I don't know, maybe 9 or so) I wrote a short story for school which I had set in the United States. One of the characters called out to his mother, which I spelt "Mom" and I was marked incorrect for spelling it that way, even though I thought it was justified. I remember being quite disappointed.
While the lack of "last-mile" bandwidth is a concern, I don't think it's a killer.
You might not be able to say "I want to watch a movie right now" and get it on demand but whats wrong with a Netflix-like queue of films you would like to see and "trickle" download system?
You could list 5 films you liked, and the system could merrily go off and trickle download 20 films that people who also liked the first 5 liked. You don;t have to watch them all, or even pay for them.
HDD space is becoming less and less of a concern and you could use as little or as much of your available bandwidth as you like, depending on how often you want to watch.
"Market research companies, pollsters, charities and religious organisations are likely to be exempted."
Which happen to be the top 4 categories that I'd like to not hear another word from.
"Invisible interference with the apes. This really needs a lot of work to be anything near reasonable, but it is closest to having an explanation. DNA sample on touch, subsequent EM manipulation of subject DNA. Certainly not possible now (much less when 2001 was written), but EM does have bio effects, and there might be a path to reason here. The problem is, 2001 didn't follow one, so it fails the test. Ding. "
It just goes to show that your frame of reference is everything. I don't see this as some magic obelisk which comes down and "changes" the apes so that they can evolve, I see it as the first clear evidence that the apes have seen which indicates that there is so much more than their "little world" It awakens the curiosity centres in their brains, which are already there, but untapped. In other words the obelisk is simply a marker which inspires the apes to further themselves.
Maybe it's just me though. I've always been a little bit different....
I'm going to assume you haven't been foloowing development of HL2. if you had, you would realise that this is exactly whats happening this time around. CS on the source engine is being given away, free, out of the box (or pumped out via STEAM) with your purchase of HL2, which also includes the development tools so theose very same modders can go nuts. They have even made a special effort to make it as simple as possible for Mod developers to migrate their old games to the new engine. There! everybody wins, and their is much rejoicing!
i'm sympathetic to your plight here because I mostly agree. I'm one of those people who get pissed off because my state government will gladly shell out millions of $$$$ to fund a new fucking "football" stadium but will dither and nitpick about a few million for scientific research, or even a new hospital ward, or whatever. However, and I preface this here by admitting I have no idea what a 'photonic crystal', is, does, or why you think it's so cool, but i suggest that someone, somewhere at the end of all this research will get a financial benefit. expecting hordes of people to freely hand over CPU cycles and electricity to power your research without a benefit is a little naive. it doesn't HAVE to be a financial benefit (as SETI@Home proves) but people have to be given something in order to be compelled to participate. it might be credibility with peers or the knowledge that they were the person who decoded the alien or some actually cash, but whatever it is I think recent successes with these sorts of projects show that a little bit goes a long way.
MS have no option but to try. Thats what it means to compete. Try as hard as you can to win. MS can't help it if it's competitors are not as successful. No one goes into business with a plan to be "just about as popular" as a competitor!
Just another reason to add to my list why i will never buy another piece of music again, regardless of whether the deal the RIAA has sealed with Satan expires and the organisation is taken over by Jesus H. Christ himself. It's not like they will miss my monetary input, I haven't bought a CD since 1998 or so, but it's indicative of how irrelevant the organisation has become.
I would prefer to buy a quality product from a non-specialist vendor than a crap one from a specialist. Thats not to say that this has occured in this case but making blanket assesments like that seem silly IMHO.
I don't know about the rest of the world but here in Australia we call them "mobiles" which seems fairly succinct and to the point. That is all.
I don't know what he was suggesting but my take on this is that the companies involved either do exactly what you suggest or pay the overtime that the damn staff work. There is NO excuse for deliberately shaving hours off the books. After all, if the staff stole so much as one chocolate bar you can bet they will be sacked before they can blink. It cuts both ways.
"...the media coverage about how it is now illegal to watch DVDs while biking because some idiot gave it a try and killed himself. "
We certainly don't get that coverage when people in cars do that, or are changing the radio station, or talking to a passenger, or using a mobile phone, or adjusting their seat, or eating a hamburger, or putting on lipstick, or reading the paper or sending email via their PDA, etc, etc. I ride motorcycles and I see this sort of thing every day on my commute. It boggles my mind more and more distracting items are put into cars when governments worldwide are trying to reduce the road toll. These, of course, are the same governments that make money off of roadside billboards- do they want people watching the road, or reading the signs?
"That's 1,300 US dollars. Lets just say that it isn't ever going to be a competitor to Tivo."
Which, unfortunately, doesn't really address the issue as TiVo (or any other DVR) is not available in Australia. Even Microsofts' WME is not available here yet. Personally I reckon there is a market for this device and as soon as I manage to collect enough lunch money to order one I am going to.