What's to be gained from "selling out" if the actual numbers are low? While MS can say they sold out at launch, they'd just be opening themselves up to a lot of headlines lambasting them. More than usual.
That's a crazy bad idea but has anybody just organised pickets of music stores to get the point across that suing your customers isn't a good idea? If you could organise a weekend picket in a few cities at once it would get media coverage too.
Why the negative comments? This is a pretty funny parody of the whole RIAA situation. It's subtle but it's clearly deliberate. He's drawing parallels between the whole Parental Advisory fiasco and the current habit of the RIAA in suing pirates and placing it the the setting of a small local store. Bravo, I say.
I'm with you. Go the whole hog and let whoever wants to use it, use it. I think the problem is the Beeb have sold off the international rights to a lot of the shows, or they were outright co-productions so they can't legally be seen to let everyone have access. Note I said be seen to.
You're right and you could go further and say that supporting any not-for-profit software development is actively trying to take away jobs from the people who make their living at it. What seems to upset people here is the thought that Microsoft (or whoever) is taking one paying job and moving it to another country just to save money. If OTOH they just canned the jobs outright people would be dancing in the streets saying it was the beginning of the end for M$ (or whoever) and didn't they deserve it. It would suck to have your job taken away and moved to China or India but it probably sucks more to be Chinese or Indian and not have the opportunity to better yourself.
I've been in a position many times where I've made promotion reccomendations based on candidates ability to work as part of a team. That team includes management. If you regard the management as the enemy because they also have a job to do then it follows they are not going to regard you as their friend. Nor is the guy who goes that little extra necessarily spineless and weak. Have you thought they may have spotted an opportunity and have weighed up their own comfort against their career prospects and looking after their family? I'm happy you've found a system that works for you but you shouldn't generalise about other people.
" and we agreed that, if he can't make the distinction between fantasy violence and real violence, then maybe he shouldn't be watching Power Rangers "
Okay, I know your nephew was only little but isn't this the point the anti-violence in games brigade is making? That people playing violent games can't tell the difference between fantasy violence and real violence?
Me? I went to see the first MMPR movie with my nephew. I loved that show.
Right now as a British citizen I seem to get by quite handily without an id card. Recently however I had to sign some papers in work and amongst other things prove the address I gave as my main residence was indeed my home. So to do this I had to bring along a utility bill (gas, electric, that sort of thing). It just seemed a bit silly. If the information can be worked into my driving license (since I always have it on me it would make more sense) or passport and was secure I wouldn't have a big problem with it. However asking me to hand over a hundred quid for something I'm not clamoring for seems pretty EFFed up.
There are about 300 digital satellite channels in the UK, maybe 250 digital cable channels and about 30 digital free to air broadcast channels (Freeview).
There are 5 analogue terrestrial channels - and I'm assuming this is what they're talking about when they say the can record every single show on the air.
It all just seems a bit pointless.
I played DR for a couple of years and it's one of my more enduring RPG memories. Small enough community to get to know people but not small enough for cliques to be that harmful. The subscriptions charges really killed it for me. You paid for everything above a basic account - I left when they were proposing the premium game world.
I see Simultronics are working on a graphical MUD - Hero's Journey (I think). Will be interesting to see how they handle "fluff" - which is what obssessed most of the playerbase in DR.
It might contribute to cancer, it might not. If people think it'll give them cancer then it improves its use as a weapon of fear and mind control (such drama...)
How does a rioting crowd feel when the water cannon gets rolled out (not applicable in Iraq but work with me) - even though it's like getting snuggled by a brick wall people have a perception that it's just water so wheeee!
Rubber bullets and water cannons were used in my home town (Belfast) for years and rioting has become an established community sport. We're hoping for Olympic status by 2012.
But how's a riot going to feel when you roll out the death ray? I suspect there will be immediate panic and a move to disperse.
Divine Divinity is quite similar in look and feel to the old Ultimas, from what I can gather. I'd avoid Beyond Divinity though.
Either of the Gothics are solid RPGs that put people off becuase they couldn't get past the learning curve and the unique controls. Imagine Morrowind with dynamic NPCs and a slightly better combat system (once you got used to the controls..)
The real problem you're going to have is that it's almost impossible to improve upon nostalgia.
I bought my (70 yr old) dad a Mac Mini because I heard so much about how simple Macs were to use. I put in a small router to handle the internet (he kept fugging that up on his laptop by insisting on entering passwords when he didn't need to). In the couple of months since he's had it I don't think he's had to restart it once. He just leaves it alone for a while and it goes to sleep and when he wants to use it he shakes the mouse. Sweet.
Before I was getting calls about why won't his laptop start up right or shut down right and everything in between - now he's getting me to talk him through burning pictures from his D70 onto a CD and I only need to tell him once.
I know this sounds like a pro-Mac troll but I'm just really impressed with the little lunchbox though I've no use for one myself. For anyone who's likely to use me for free support though it's my first recommendation.
So... what do you do when you download an album off Usenet but only like 2 or 3 of the tracks?
Sticking to your principles you delete the files and don't buy the CD? Weigh up the pros and cons of buying against not buying and possibly buy a CD with only a few good tracks? Wait for best of compilation?
Hmmmm.
Your point about live performance is well made, for bands that are just starting out but most bands starting out play a mixture of their own tracks and covers. It takes time to build up a body of songs worth performing live.
In any event, your focus is obviously on a particular kind of music (fringe hard rock) which is traditionally album-centric and concept heavy (I'm old enough to still remember the German black metal rock opera from the 80s when I was listening to Tommy Vance on a Friday night.) but some people like pop music and it's a different game as I'm sure you're well aware.
Most of the fringe hard rock you're talking about is on independent or self-funded labels and not relevant to a discussion about Big Music record companies. They also have everything to benefit from a level playing field. More power to them!
Sales of singles have been on the decline for years, long before downloading became an issue, but nobody really cared much because album sales were still strong. Now we all know that most albums contain maybe 2 or 3 songs we want to listen to and the rest is filler. Yes there are exceptions but not many.
If the shift in legal music sales is away from shops to online distribution and people no longer feel the need to buy an album to get the songs they want then what's the point of making an album? What's the ROI if only a couple of tracks actually turn a profit? Is this part of the reason the "Music Industry" is afraid to move online?
Bands get corraled into deals that give them money up front that's then used to pay for everything including studio time, producers etc etc. If the costs to manufacture your profitable product (a track) is slashed and you no longer waste time on unprofitable "inventory" doesn't that empower the musicians?
You don't need all that upfront money to make an album because you won't be making an album.
In the UK I get my Canon replacement cartridges online from Ebuyer - their Inkrite BCI-3 series cartridges cost about £1.50 each. I buy a lot of their BCI-5 series equivalents (a LOT) and haven't had any problems or any noticeable difference in quality. YMMV.
When I have a tub of nanobots I can set to replicating anything then copying CDs will be the least of their worries. First I'll get them to make ANOTHER tub of nanobots...
Harlan Ellison doesn't like people trading his books on bittorent. Fair enough. I'm guessing he probably also doesn't like libraries lending his books out either, since both represent a lost sale - though most of his books are out of print. Lending books out is generally accepted, though perhaps grudgingly in some quarters, because at least the libraries buy a copies in the first place and also give back to authors in various ways, depending on which country we're talking about. When the physical books dies a death and all we're left with are ebooks will this be the end of libraries lending books?
A lot of (most?) people buy books because of convenience (they might be slow readers or just not want to haul themselves to a library at all. Heck they might even be obssessives about cleanliness.) but if a library could "lend" you an ebook (time limited DRM gizmo doodad...) then everyone will be borrowing. ie there's no way it'll be permitted.
I know there's a big difference between national libraries and the public lending library but it's funny that one, by making digitised books acceptable, might lead to the death of the other.
Slashdot Mirror
What's to be gained from "selling out" if the actual numbers are low? While MS can say they sold out at launch, they'd just be opening themselves up to a lot of headlines lambasting them. More than usual.
And I'm pretty sure Far Cry implemented a version of HDR as well and that was out last year.
this might discourage IT jobs being outsourced to rats.
And thank god they haven't legalised software patents or introduced DMCA like laws.
That's a crazy bad idea but has anybody just organised pickets of music stores to get the point across that suing your customers isn't a good idea? If you could organise a weekend picket in a few cities at once it would get media coverage too.
Why the negative comments? This is a pretty funny parody of the whole RIAA situation. It's subtle but it's clearly deliberate. He's drawing parallels between the whole Parental Advisory fiasco and the current habit of the RIAA in suing pirates and placing it the the setting of a small local store. Bravo, I say.
I'm with you. Go the whole hog and let whoever wants to use it, use it. I think the problem is the Beeb have sold off the international rights to a lot of the shows, or they were outright co-productions so they can't legally be seen to let everyone have access. Note I said be seen to.
You're right and you could go further and say that supporting any not-for-profit software development is actively trying to take away jobs from the people who make their living at it. What seems to upset people here is the thought that Microsoft (or whoever) is taking one paying job and moving it to another country just to save money. If OTOH they just canned the jobs outright people would be dancing in the streets saying it was the beginning of the end for M$ (or whoever) and didn't they deserve it. It would suck to have your job taken away and moved to China or India but it probably sucks more to be Chinese or Indian and not have the opportunity to better yourself.
I've been in a position many times where I've made promotion reccomendations based on candidates ability to work as part of a team. That team includes management. If you regard the management as the enemy because they also have a job to do then it follows they are not going to regard you as their friend. Nor is the guy who goes that little extra necessarily spineless and weak. Have you thought they may have spotted an opportunity and have weighed up their own comfort against their career prospects and looking after their family? I'm happy you've found a system that works for you but you shouldn't generalise about other people.
" and we agreed that, if he can't make the distinction between fantasy violence and real violence, then maybe he shouldn't be watching Power Rangers " Okay, I know your nephew was only little but isn't this the point the anti-violence in games brigade is making? That people playing violent games can't tell the difference between fantasy violence and real violence? Me? I went to see the first MMPR movie with my nephew. I loved that show.
Right now as a British citizen I seem to get by quite handily without an id card. Recently however I had to sign some papers in work and amongst other things prove the address I gave as my main residence was indeed my home. So to do this I had to bring along a utility bill (gas, electric, that sort of thing). It just seemed a bit silly. If the information can be worked into my driving license (since I always have it on me it would make more sense) or passport and was secure I wouldn't have a big problem with it. However asking me to hand over a hundred quid for something I'm not clamoring for seems pretty EFFed up.
There are about 300 digital satellite channels in the UK, maybe 250 digital cable channels and about 30 digital free to air broadcast channels (Freeview). There are 5 analogue terrestrial channels - and I'm assuming this is what they're talking about when they say the can record every single show on the air. It all just seems a bit pointless.
I played DR for a couple of years and it's one of my more enduring RPG memories. Small enough community to get to know people but not small enough for cliques to be that harmful. The subscriptions charges really killed it for me. You paid for everything above a basic account - I left when they were proposing the premium game world. I see Simultronics are working on a graphical MUD - Hero's Journey (I think). Will be interesting to see how they handle "fluff" - which is what obssessed most of the playerbase in DR.
It might contribute to cancer, it might not. If people think it'll give them cancer then it improves its use as a weapon of fear and mind control (such drama...) How does a rioting crowd feel when the water cannon gets rolled out (not applicable in Iraq but work with me) - even though it's like getting snuggled by a brick wall people have a perception that it's just water so wheeee! Rubber bullets and water cannons were used in my home town (Belfast) for years and rioting has become an established community sport. We're hoping for Olympic status by 2012. But how's a riot going to feel when you roll out the death ray? I suspect there will be immediate panic and a move to disperse.
Divine Divinity is quite similar in look and feel to the old Ultimas, from what I can gather. I'd avoid Beyond Divinity though. Either of the Gothics are solid RPGs that put people off becuase they couldn't get past the learning curve and the unique controls. Imagine Morrowind with dynamic NPCs and a slightly better combat system (once you got used to the controls..) The real problem you're going to have is that it's almost impossible to improve upon nostalgia.
I bought my (70 yr old) dad a Mac Mini because I heard so much about how simple Macs were to use. I put in a small router to handle the internet (he kept fugging that up on his laptop by insisting on entering passwords when he didn't need to). In the couple of months since he's had it I don't think he's had to restart it once. He just leaves it alone for a while and it goes to sleep and when he wants to use it he shakes the mouse. Sweet. Before I was getting calls about why won't his laptop start up right or shut down right and everything in between - now he's getting me to talk him through burning pictures from his D70 onto a CD and I only need to tell him once. I know this sounds like a pro-Mac troll but I'm just really impressed with the little lunchbox though I've no use for one myself. For anyone who's likely to use me for free support though it's my first recommendation.
You realise it's going to cost a fortune in surgery to sort your relationship out? :-)
So... what do you do when you download an album off Usenet but only like 2 or 3 of the tracks? Sticking to your principles you delete the files and don't buy the CD? Weigh up the pros and cons of buying against not buying and possibly buy a CD with only a few good tracks? Wait for best of compilation? Hmmmm. Your point about live performance is well made, for bands that are just starting out but most bands starting out play a mixture of their own tracks and covers. It takes time to build up a body of songs worth performing live. In any event, your focus is obviously on a particular kind of music (fringe hard rock) which is traditionally album-centric and concept heavy (I'm old enough to still remember the German black metal rock opera from the 80s when I was listening to Tommy Vance on a Friday night.) but some people like pop music and it's a different game as I'm sure you're well aware. Most of the fringe hard rock you're talking about is on independent or self-funded labels and not relevant to a discussion about Big Music record companies. They also have everything to benefit from a level playing field. More power to them!
Sales of singles have been on the decline for years, long before downloading became an issue, but nobody really cared much because album sales were still strong. Now we all know that most albums contain maybe 2 or 3 songs we want to listen to and the rest is filler. Yes there are exceptions but not many. If the shift in legal music sales is away from shops to online distribution and people no longer feel the need to buy an album to get the songs they want then what's the point of making an album? What's the ROI if only a couple of tracks actually turn a profit? Is this part of the reason the "Music Industry" is afraid to move online? Bands get corraled into deals that give them money up front that's then used to pay for everything including studio time, producers etc etc. If the costs to manufacture your profitable product (a track) is slashed and you no longer waste time on unprofitable "inventory" doesn't that empower the musicians? You don't need all that upfront money to make an album because you won't be making an album.
Yup. And they died a death for some of the reasons in the idle thums review. When this idea is coupled to decent speech recognition give me a call.
Pah. That chimp will sign it's soul over to some music exec in exchange for a handful of bananas... no! the promise of a handful of bananas.
In the UK I get my Canon replacement cartridges online from Ebuyer - their Inkrite BCI-3 series cartridges cost about £1.50 each. I buy a lot of their BCI-5 series equivalents (a LOT) and haven't had any problems or any noticeable difference in quality. YMMV.
When I have a tub of nanobots I can set to replicating anything then copying CDs will be the least of their worries. First I'll get them to make ANOTHER tub of nanobots...
Not to mention what it'll let them do with game AI.
Harlan Ellison doesn't like people trading his books on bittorent. Fair enough. I'm guessing he probably also doesn't like libraries lending his books out either, since both represent a lost sale - though most of his books are out of print. Lending books out is generally accepted, though perhaps grudgingly in some quarters, because at least the libraries buy a copies in the first place and also give back to authors in various ways, depending on which country we're talking about. When the physical books dies a death and all we're left with are ebooks will this be the end of libraries lending books? A lot of (most?) people buy books because of convenience (they might be slow readers or just not want to haul themselves to a library at all. Heck they might even be obssessives about cleanliness.) but if a library could "lend" you an ebook (time limited DRM gizmo doodad...) then everyone will be borrowing. ie there's no way it'll be permitted. I know there's a big difference between national libraries and the public lending library but it's funny that one, by making digitised books acceptable, might lead to the death of the other.