That's right, but you also tend to make it sound like the artists were forced into signing contracts with record labels. They practically are. Because of the tactics of the RIAA and other industry groups, content that is not from an RIAA label doesn't get exposure. You either sign a contract with an RIAA label or live in obscurity. Doesn't sound like much of a choice does it?
And lastly about the DMCA: you appear to believe that copyright works and is more or less okay, but the DMCA is wrong/bad The DMCA prevents me from legally playing my legally purchased DVDs on my Linux machines. It doesn't stop me from doing it, but it still stands that the act of playing a legally purchased DVD on a Linux machine is a criminal act in violation of the DMCA.
The DMCA prevents me from bypassing DRM so that music I legally purchased on iTunes can be played on a non-Apple media player.
The list goes on. I'm sorry, but if I pay for something, I should be able to use it on any device of my choosing in the manner it was intended to be used.
I feel for the smaller artists, but blame the larger ones The richest lot of the larger artists got that way because they own record labels. Paul McCartney has a significant stake in Apple Corps. Madonna owns Maverick Records. The list goes on.\
Artists get a very very small cut of the wealth -- despite being the product. In almost no other industry does this occur,
Um, no, you're confusion copyrights with patents. Copyright, as it was originally set in the United States at least, was originally for a term of 28 years, after which it could be renewed for an additional term of 67 years. That was up until the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, which changed the term to 95 years. See the original wording, which is still present in the Title 17 statute.
If Python had a decent native code compiler I would consider it for more applications. It is good for rapid development, yes I've experienced that, but it is cryingly, mind numbingly slow, which really hurts in any application that needs to think the slightest bit hard. You're not going to write the latest FPS in Python, no. But it still is good for a lots and lots of things. There are even interfaces to streaming media libraries and the like -- you can even write a media player in Python (in fact, I think someone did). It's also the perfect language for writing GUI frontends to things. Write your backend in C and frontend in Python, and you get the best of both worlds. As far as 'mind numblingly slow' -- well, it's all relative isn't it? Modern CPUs and memory sizes mean that the vast majority of apps can -- and probably should -- be written in interpreted languages. What do you suppose Firefox is? It's a browser written in XUL.
Anyway, I think a Python API would be cool for phones.
Oops, I don't mean "steal". I mean "infringe the copyright of". Because the difference totally matters, and makes the latter totally okay. There is a difference, even though copyright infringement is not, per se, totally okay.
Because the copyright system is so, "broken", you know. Gotcha. My bad. No, the copyright system isn't broken. Copyright has worked well for over 200 years in this country. (The patent system is another story). Now laws like the DMCA that criminalize what would otherwise be legitimate acts...that's broken.
Good for you! After all, if something is technically or physically possible to do, that must mean there is an implicit grant allowing you to do this. That's an entirely different argument, Dave. If someone is running a Web server on port 80 and plugged into the public internet, but doesn't have any authentication methods and just assumes that he didn't give explicit permission for anyone to access, therefore no one has access...well, that's just stupid, now, isn't it?
Yes, the convenience and ease of each of those things is why there are, and always have been, different costs for different privileges. Think it's bullshit if you want. Call copyright out if you want. But that's the current legal framework we have, and before you start tossing around terms like "MAFIAA", why not consider that there will always be groups of artists who want to control their own content, and think they should be paid X, Y, or Z for it. Some might even price things -- like the right to play it on a radio station, or be streamed in a web page, or be downloaded from an online music store, or purchased on a CD -- differently. Some might group together under common legal and marketing representation. They may call it, oh, I don't know, a music label. Some might also realize that it's smart to pool their outward legal representation under an umbrella industry trade organization, even given the drawbacks. There may be different frameworks in different countries, necessitating differing systems of handling sales, releases, and legal issues in various places to maximize one's own return on your investment as you see fit, as is your right That's right, but you also tend to make it sound like the record labels are totally benign and that artists get paid fairly. That's also not the case, as recording artist after recording artist has come out and said. You also make it sound like the RIAA don't try to control what gets played on the airwaves. They have rules, you know, for radio stations that says that if they want to play RIAA content, they can't play it alongside of non-RIAA content -- i.e., indie rock. Some radio stations have even expressed this view as completely ridiculous, but abide by it because they feel they have no choice. Doesn't this sound like the tactics of another big monopoly? One that starts with an 'M', ends with a 't' and has a Vista in the middle?
I agree that file sharing is a problem, but there are plenty of problems in the music industry and these problems have more to do with their lost revenue than file sharing itself. If the record labels had gotten off their ass and got into online music in a big way when it started, we wouldn't have this problem.
Well, me... I'm personally holding out for a Python API. Python is really good for RAD work, and well, I gotta tell you, I don't have time for traditional development methods these days. Python is easy and quick. And that's how mobile app development should be -- you should be able to write apps on the go!
But can you imagine what micropayments might allow? Abuse, fraud and theft?
It would enable a consistent set of trained, motivated workers to be stable over time, and dependable enough to use this kind of network for important activities. I tend to agree with you, but you do have to figure out how to combat fraudulent activities. After all, most of these are like "pick the picture that most matches foo" or whatever but if someone writes a bot to randomly click on a picture to get micropayments? Not so good because not only were you cheated, but now you have a bunch of wrong data. How do you detect fraud in such a system?
Next (mis)step? N-tier, repackaged as "federated", with an emphasis on thin, mobile clients. But you knew that. The real question is, what will AJAX for the hand-held be called? I say: BORAXO. How about JAXOFF?
Or the programming and electronics books for that matter. In fact, that could be worse. Much worse.
By the time Skynet became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms; everywhere. It was software; in cyberspace. There was no system core; it could not be shutdown. The attack began at 6:18 PM, just as he said it would. Judgment Day.
I can't think of a higher form of "backing" a standard than an actual reimplementation So the presence of the old Microsoft Word binary format filters in OpenOffice.org should be seen as an endorsement of that format by OOo? Firefox imports Internet Explorer bookmarks. Should we now say that the Mozilla Foundation endorses that standard? The GIMP reads and writes GIF files. Should the GIMP developers be seen as endorsing the GIF format? I'm sorry, but your statement seems ridiculous to me.
Totally agree. Where in Behdad Esfahbod's response to Stallman does it say that GNOME is actively supporting OOXML standardization? All Behdad says is that the Gnome Foundation will be implementing OOXML, he doesn't say anything about Gnome actively backing OOXML in the standards process. So, from where I sit, you're 100% correct.
Finally, as for Stallman throwing his weight behind KDE, do I need to remind anybody that Gnome is officially a GNU project?
Okay, I just can't figure out what the heck you're talking about. At the bottom of page 1, see:
Vendor information available
The new information for vendors page is up! Please let me know if your operating system/appliance/software vendor is using the NTP Pool but isn't using a vendor zone. I follow the link for vendor information and see nothing about this John Ackerman.
It's a choppy sentence that implies the tail end of an enumeration where none exists. It is the tail end of an enumeration. Read that section over again -- it contains many explanations of the origin of the word crapper (meaning toilet).
Sure, it seems a bit awkwardly written, but I'll take accurate over nicely polished crap any day of the week.
Yeah, but you have to admit, the urban legend is a hell of a lot funnier than the truth. (Okay, okay, so I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old. This is Slashdot after all;))
Meanwhile...there's more than one way to make a profit from software. You don't have to be in the business of packaging secret bits to make money from software.
Slashdot Mirror
The DMCA prevents me from bypassing DRM so that music I legally purchased on iTunes can be played on a non-Apple media player.
The list goes on. I'm sorry, but if I pay for something, I should be able to use it on any device of my choosing in the manner it was intended to be used.
Certainly not by anyone around here. Three days, three years, what's the difference?
Artists get a very very small cut of the wealth -- despite being the product. In almost no other industry does this occur,
Um, no, you're confusion copyrights with patents. Copyright, as it was originally set in the United States at least, was originally for a term of 28 years, after which it could be renewed for an additional term of 67 years. That was up until the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, which changed the term to 95 years. See the original wording, which is still present in the Title 17 statute.
Anyway, I think a Python API would be cool for phones.
I agree that file sharing is a problem, but there are plenty of problems in the music industry and these problems have more to do with their lost revenue than file sharing itself. If the record labels had gotten off their ass and got into online music in a big way when it started, we wouldn't have this problem.
The cost to file a trademark is like $25. You don't even need to hire an attorney. *shrug*
As far as Fark being blocked at work -- there are plenty of ways around that.
Well, me... I'm personally holding out for a Python API. Python is really good for RAD work, and well, I gotta tell you, I don't have time for traditional development methods these days. Python is easy and quick. And that's how mobile app development should be -- you should be able to write apps on the go!
I think 2012 is already slated to be the Year of Linux on the Toaster Oven. Linux on the Phone will be probably have to wait until 2014.
Or the programming and electronics books for that matter. In fact, that could be worse. Much worse.
By the time Skynet became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms; everywhere. It was software; in cyberspace. There was no system core; it could not be shutdown. The attack began at 6:18 PM, just as he said it would. Judgment Day.
Warm-Hot Intergalactic Matter? WHIM? The WHIM Hypothesis? I mean, it just SOUNDS like he made it up on whim!
Totally agree. Where in Behdad Esfahbod's response to Stallman does it say that GNOME is actively supporting OOXML standardization? All Behdad says is that the Gnome Foundation will be implementing OOXML, he doesn't say anything about Gnome actively backing OOXML in the standards process. So, from where I sit, you're 100% correct.
Finally, as for Stallman throwing his weight behind KDE, do I need to remind anybody that Gnome is officially a GNU project?
Guess nobody clicked on the story cause it's marked NSFW! :)
The new information for vendors page is up! Please let me know if your operating system/appliance/software vendor is using the NTP Pool but isn't using a vendor zone. I follow the link for vendor information and see nothing about this John Ackerman.
Sure, it seems a bit awkwardly written, but I'll take accurate over nicely polished crap any day of the week.
MPAA: We have ways of making your pronounce the letter "O"!
In Soviet Russia, Kelly LeBrock rocks YOU!!!!
Or was that my dreams? Sorry...
I was thinking more along the lines of sex ed taught by Kelly Brock myself... ;)
Yeah, but you have to admit, the urban legend is a hell of a lot funnier than the truth. (Okay, okay, so I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old. This is Slashdot after all ;))
FWIW, at least Wikipedia gets it right. Does that make Wikipedia better than the Brittanica of the 1970s?
Answers: $5
Good Answers: $10
Correct Answers: $20
Well-researched Answers complete with reference: time and materials
Dumb looks are still free.
Talk to Red Hat. :D
Meanwhile...there's more than one way to make a profit from software. You don't have to be in the business of packaging secret bits to make money from software.
Okay, well, they're $30... but what's $10 between friends?