On my HDTiVo to view HD content. It was being output from my HDTiVo which was being output in 720p (native in the case of FOX and ABC, downconverted from 1080i in the case of CBS, NBC and others). The 2001FP is 1600x1200 and doesn't have HDCP. 1080i doesn't work well on the 2001FP because the 2001FP doesn't like interlaced input.
So, I think you're mistaken.
On an HDTiVo, if you try to view protected content on a non-HDCP monitor, it will say on the monitor "this content couldn't be displayed" or some such nonsense.
Except the HDTiVo only does this to channels with the broadcast flag set. And there are no channels with the broadcast flag set, except for one test channel.
At least that is what I understand.
So I think the problem is something else in your system, the lack of HDCP. I could be wrong, I haven't tried this in months and the HDTiVo software has changed recently, but I don't think it has changed.
You are having difficulty understanding that our legal system is not the same as our school system. The principals are done with this, the case is in the court. Will the kids get off? Maybe. Will that hurt the school? It might. But that isn't really under the school's control.
You would get the best lawyer possible to make sure your kid doesn't suffer the consequences for what they did wrong. Great lesson. As an added bonus, if your kid gets off, you undermine the school too. Wonderful. And you complain about the administrators?
Look, they spied on the teachers. How do you know what harm was and wasn't done? They could have seen the teachers exposing critical personal info. And you say the students didn't do anything to merit punishment?
You say you hacked the computers at your school. And your teacher stopped you, and you didn't end up seeing a judge. Well, did you hack the computers again, as these students did?
Not only did they surely know what they did was wrong, but they were stopped, told so, told of the consequences and they did it again.
As to "they are not citizens, but kids". My post said that "future citizens take responsibility for their actions". They are presumably future citizens. And they will become better citizens if we treat them as such, not if we treat them as kids.
I mean lately? I've installed 3 video cards in the last year (in different machines). None required any effort to get windows to recognize it. Remove driver. Put in card. Download driver. Install driver. DONE.
Yes, I can stop Real Player from launching at startup. Although honestly, I just don't install Real. It sucks. Are there no programs for Linux that suck?
Completely removing software? Microsoft has worked VERY hard at this. All Windows programs must have an installer and an uninstaller before they get the Windows logo. That's more than I can say for Linux or Mac OS. Sometimes the uninstaller doesn't work perfectly, it's true. But MS has given it a lot of effort. Say... how do you remove a Linux program without leaving turds behind? Maybe they're in/etc? or/usr/etc? or/usr/local/etc?/usr/share/etc? Maybe/usr/local/lib? It's a complete mess on Linux, far worse.
As to "for dummies". If you have read any dummies book you know it's nothing like a man page. Explain to me how you learned to run vi from the man page, go ahead.
No, things aren't as simple as they can be in Windows, but they're pretty simple. Configuring multiple email accounts? With different spam filters for every account? That's not a normal thing to do, so of course the answer isn't simple. The way you simplify is by making the common things simple. The uncommon things (like not showing the taskbar) should be hidden a bit so they don't confuse the user using the simple case.
The dumping icons thing is way out of control on Windows. You have to regularly clean out the system tray and desktop. And machines come with like 30 icons on the desktop.
But all being said and done, Windows is a lot easier to learn and use than Linux. By a long shot. Microsoft has worked hard to make it so. They haven't won the war, there's definitely still stuff that isn't easy. But after the huge success of Win95 they know it's their big competitive advantage and they'll work hard to stay there.
Most people in this country have insurance. The number of people who could "afford" bypasses if everyone had insurance would less than double with universal insurance.
What makes it so there are no lines in the US is the ridiculous amount of money to be made, since we don't have a single payer system. There are plenty of heart doctors because heart doctoring pays big bucks.
So, if we went to a socialized medicine system, then perhaps there would be lines. With no real money as the scarce resource to decide what you get, time becomes the currency. Just like in Canada, or the USSR. Get in line for your "free" stuff.
I'm not saying socialized medicine doesn't have its merits, even perhaps is better than our current system. But it has its downsides too.
Not DVI or HDMI. VGA cannot carry digital signals like they can.
Perhaps you mean Composite or component? All 3 component formats and composite all predate VGA & the HDI-15. Component video (YPbPr) was used on Sony's Betacam (not to be confused with Beta) in 1982. Component RGB was around at least as long. VGA (HDI-15) came out in 1987.
S-Video (Y/C) also predates VGA, although the 4-pin connector doesn't. Perhaps you used the Y/C connectors on your Amiga or C-64 to hook to your (premium) Commodore monitor.
S-Video was unavoidable because of how VCRs work (the connector was created by JVC for their S-VHS decks in 1988), component video for those devices wouldn't have been cost-effective.
So perhaps it is VGA that never should have happened?
As to DVI and HDMI, it's easy to convert HDMI to DVI if your TV has DVI.
And BTW, you forgot RF (F-connector). Most TVs have at least one of those too. And some have Firewire.
It's the school's fault because they didn't take the students computers away? They merely told them it was wrong, they should have known so and don't do it again. And yet they're at fault and not the kids?
Wrong.
Citizens must take reponsibility for their own actions.
As to "doing real harm", they spied on the teachers actions. There's plenty of room for harm there.
I also see how checking equipment in and out would solve anything. If they're going to hack school property that is in their possession for weeks, they'll do it for a day or hours too. They'll just cover their tracks better. Thus they'll learn the lesson kids learn very well nowadays: "It's only wrong if you get caught."
It was wrong to do what they did. No ifs, ands, or buts. No argument over punishments, esclations, anything. They need to know better than to do what they did. Even if there were no consequences, it's still wrong. If they can't learn this on their own, then punishment is quite appropriate. Maybe they'll learn it that way.
It's stunning to me how fast slashdotters rise to defend the actions of people that are clearly legally and morally wrong. That somehow they shouldn't be punished. That rules are for other people. Well, they aren't. They're for all of us. And by letting kids know that there is a right and a wrong, they help those kids be successful (in the right ways) in the future.
Which had a fsqrte (floating-point square root reciprocal estimate) instruction since 1996 (PPC 604).
It wasn't specified in the docs I don't think, but fsqrte was accurate to something like 12 or 14 significant bits. After 2 Newton-Raphson iterations I believe the answer was correct to 1 bit less than the number of significant bits in an IEEE double.
Kids use the passwords to spy on the administrators/teachers? I don't care how you slice it, that's just plain wrong. It's the same as opening a teacher's drawers to look for answers to a test. Just because the drawer isn't locked doesn't mean it isn't wrong. There's no "the technology made me do it" or "the password was on the back" defense here.
As far as I'm concerned, they have to throw the book at them. You can't let the kids run the school. You can let them have a lot of say in it, especially in the social aspects. But this is much too far.
I also don't get your comment that this school clearly creates an environment for failure. Are you familiar with the school? I'm not, and just from these stories about this particular issue, I can't tell anything about whether the environment encourages kids in academic and social ways.
Honestly, half of your post just doesn't make sense to me.
Added note: schools don't charge kids with felonies, district attorneys do.
"Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud (Miller)" isn't fraudlent. And the case of putting "HP" in huge letters on the front of your non-HP printer cartridge is borderline.
I think you've just missed the case where if you try to associate yourself with your competitors' trademarked name (as opposed to just pretending your are your competitors product) it isn't fraud, at least you aren't defrauding the consumer. The company who holds the trademark would claim injury though.
Anyway, these two circumstances are the most relevant here. Because they deal not with out and out counterfeiting but a confusion between two products.
We will see if this holds up, the confusion in the adwords case is a lot less clear cut and thus a lot more argueable than putting your oat-rings in a box that looks nearly identical to a Cheerios box.
The basis for trademark law is the idea of unfair competition.
So let's start testing this.
It is legal to mention your competitor's trademarked name to say you are better than them, if it is true. And by true, that means proveably true. This is because it isn't unfair to state the truth. Not that if you can't prove it, because it is a matter of opinion (taste tests) or because you are playing tricks in your tests (like the paper towel strength tests), then you use "brand X".
It is legal to use a companies' trademarked name for non-commercial purposes. This is because it isn't competition since it isn't even a commmercial endeavour.
It is not legal to use a companies' trademarked name to lie about them (especially commercially), that would be unfair. Although it's pretty much unfair to lie about a company anyway even if you did avoid their trademark.
It is not legal to masquerade as another company. For example, if I make breakfast oat-rings, I cannot just print up a Cheerios box and put them in it so they sell better. That would be using the properties of General Mills against them. Every dollar they spent advertising or building a name would actually work for me too (and thus against them), I'm unfairly leveraging their efforts.
Now, what about just mentioning them to say you are like them (or perhaps unlike them), as in this case. It is possible to do this legally. For example, if I make an aftermarket HP-compatible ink cartridge I can use their name to indicate what it is. I can say "HP-compatible". Or even "compatible with HP printers" or "replaces HP cartridge #XXYY-035". However, there is an easy way to get in trouble in this case. If I made my box say "HP" covering 90% of the front of the box and my company name in tiny lettering in the corner or on the side, I would be masquerading as an HP product (at least long enough to get your attention), and again that would be unfair. See Negativland's U2 album http://foetusized.org/u2.html for example.
This can happen for regular advertising too. For example, Miller's ads could say "Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud (Miller)" and basically associate themselves more strongly with Budweiser than their own name. That would be unfair too. It even could happen with a (normally legal) comparison ad, like the "better than" ads above. You could truthfully mention you are better than the other product, but spend so much time (or space) in your ad doing it that you are using their name to associate with yours. Obviously all of this is subject to some interpretation.
So, to go to the AdWords thing, is it illegal? Well, you are using a competitors term and using it commercially. So the competition part is there. But the question is, is it unfair to pop up when your competitor's trademarked term is entered. In my opinion, it probably is. In this case, your product's "box art" (the item that attracts people to look at your product/ad) is essentially 100% your competitor's trademarks. It's like that Negativland cover. When someone sees it from far away, it looks more like your compeitition than yourself; and by design. Information that says that this isn't really your competitor's product is available in your detailed ad, but isn't nearly as visible, and requires a more detailed examination, like hiding your name down in the corner or on the side of the box. Furthermore, every ad dollar your competitor spends is twisted to work against them by helping you. The more people learn their name and enter it into the search box, the more your name pops up.
Thus, in my opinion, buying adwords of your competitor's trademarks is probably unfair competition and thus illegal. And if judges think like me (I shudder to think) they have no choice but to rule against Google. I don't feel it should be illegal, so I would like Congress to step in and change the law in this case. Will they do it? Probably depends on who has the most lobbying money.
I had a 6800 Ultra in an Antec Sonata (mini-Tower) case with two HDs and two optical drives, and it has only a single case fan and that was only at 5V or something. Plus the PS has only a single PS fan.
So basically, no air flow.
The additional thing to know is that the 50C "case temp" I reported is actually the "ambient" sensor on the 6800 Ultra, so it doesn't mean my whole case interior was really at 50C. In fact, I would say it wasn't, since you could touch the case and it didn't feel warm.
The sensor is probably somewhat incorrect due to how my Zalman GPU cooler spreads air around the video card. The stock cooing solution didn't push any air over the edges of the card and so the "ambient" sensor is probably there. Now the ambient sensor probably gets some cooling (i.e. heated) air over it.
Either way, I don't give a rip. 50C isn't much to electronics. If the thing wasn't malfunctioning, I wouldn't even have bothered speeding up the rear fan.
My case temps were hovering around 50C, and my GPU temp was hitting 80C (playing Half-Life 2). Honestly, I wouldn't care much, except my GPU started glitching. It glitched enough it became quite annoying. I already have a Zalman video card cooler for it, and it moves a lot of air quietly, it just seemed to me like that blowing 50C air over the video card isn't going to cool it as effectively as room-temp air.
So I kicked my case fan up to full speed, and it solved the problem. Case temps are now around 40C and the GPU hits about 75C. Glitching is gone.
But the case fan is too loud this way (even though it is a 120mm) so I got a new one, and a fan controller. I'll dial down the speed to compromise on temp and noise.
If I didn't have this stupid 6800 ULTRA video card, I wouldn't have any problems with temps.
They want to be the bosses of audio-DRM (well, all DRM) and thus they created the Plays For Sure initiative http://www.playsforsure.com/. This group, led by Microsoft, works to try to stop the dominance of the iPod. This would benefit MS by allowing them to own (or even be a significant player in) the audio DRM market and would benefit the makes of the music players by allowing them to sell more hardware.
So, the devices doing the denting are the ones on that page. That is, those backed by Microsoft.
I cannot say that when I was 10-13 there was no content I couldn't deal with. I'm not saying I wouldn't let my (fictitious) 13 year old play GTA:SA, but I am saying that there's a big difference between a 13 year old and a mature adult in what they can handle.
I cannot imagine what you talk about when you say 13 was a full adult. I know a 13 year old can do a lot of things, they can hold down a job quite well. But I know how badly most 18 year olds manage their affairs, I can't imagine 13 year olds would do particularly well.
I have to say we do live in more compicated times in many ways. Yes, you're right about how easy and soft things are. But also, there is so much more access to information. A 13 year old could easily see things (pictures of things) that people in the times you speak of would never see in their lifetime.
When you were young even access to regular porn was rare. Stag films still existed and were quite an event to view. Porn theaters did exist, but anyone under age wasn't getting into them. For most kids their Father's Playboy mags was perhaps the raciest thing they would imagine seeing. Now things of that sort are a few keypresses away, even to young people.
And it wasn't just that, there are pictures and films of awful, degrading acts of violence that not easily available before. Remember the titelation when you heard of "Faces of Death"? Perhaps you even saw it in your early teens (when videotape become widespread). That's all available to anyone at any age with ease now.
And Custer's Revenge was worse than GTA:SA? I can't agree. The images in Custer's Revenge were so crude, anyone without a knowledge of what they represent couldn't possibly be affected by them. It's like telling a dirty joke to a 5 year old. They don't have the context, it goes over their head.
Any I do understand you found one older game that wasn't for kids. But it was the very rare exception. And Custer's Revenge was VERY poorly distributed. There were so few copies sold. Really, before the Sony PlayStation, video games were targeted almost solely at kids. Parents bought the games for their children, not for themselves. Sony recognized the market was opening up to making it possible to sell video games to adults, and they changed the marketplace completely.
So I don't agree that just because you're not likely to be eaten by wolves that the world is a simpler, kinder place than it was. It's a lot more complex than that.
We have 11 channels in the US, there are 14 in Japan and 13 in the EU.
And what company wants to make 3 chips when they can make one? If you make 3 chips, then you have a stocking problem. what happens when you have 1,000,000 EU chips on hand and someone wants to buy 1,000,000 JPN chips? If they're all the same, you don't have a problem. But if they're different.
And then the company that makes the product with the chips has to make 3 different versions and has their own stocking problem.
Finally, due to how frequencies are generated, it is difficult in hardware to truly keep people from generating improper frequencies. Remember how much work Intel and AMD do to limit overclocking (and how unsuccessful they are in the end).
Finally, in 802.11, it is the device that creates the network that picks the frequency. So your laptop can easily be universal, accepting and responding on any frequency that is legal anywhere in the world, assuming that the base stations in an area will only be on legal frequencies. But base stations aren't as universal.
All in all this really sounds like a "problem you don't understand".
Get any Sony from the last year or any Canon with the DIGIC II processor (this does not include the G6, BTW). They have very little shutter lag.
And it isn't like SLRs don't have shutter lag anyway. They have to move the mirror box before taking the shot.
Batteries last a long time on digital cameras now. You don't need to change film stocks, because you can use photoshop to do that stuff, and if you leave it turned on by mistake, the battery will still be good weeks later because (as you point out), it will turn itself off automatically after 2 minutes.
Note that on the Sony DSC-T1 camera, you can turn the backlight OFF and read the LCD perfectly in broad daylight. It's a fantastic display. The DSC-T7 has the same LCD, it still looks great in direct sunlight, although you cannot turn the backlight off for some reason.
As to buttons and dials being clearly marked, again, you just need to get a decent camera. There are poor SLRs and there are good digital SLRs (and good digital SLRs too).
I switched from Google to Yahoo after a friend suggested I "put my money where my mouth is" when I was saying I thought Google was vastly overrated (we were talking about the stock price).
So now I use search.yahoo.com whenever I search.
Honestly, you can hardly tell the difference between it and Google. Both work great. Once in a while I think Yahoo's results suck and I try them on Google. Only once is great while are Google's results actually better.
I think most companies do realize you won't come back if they treat you poorly enough. I think they also realize exactly how poorly they can treat you before you will leave. And they walk that line for maximum profitability. Especially if everyone else does it (Best Buy being notorious).
Maybe that sounds crass. I used to be on the "customer is always right" bandwagon. But then I returned a few items at Fry's. I had a few people tell me "buy that at Fry's, order it from newegg, and return the Fry's one when the newegg one comes in". I saw young adults "purchase" camcorders for use over spring break, knowing they will return them afterwards. I had people tell me they bought the same video card at Best Buy, Comp USA and Fry's, and return the two that couldn't be overclocked as much. I had people tell me to buy something at Fry's try it out, and if I liked it, return it and buy it online. After all that, I just can't go with the idea that a store does best by allowing anyone to return anything. And yet Fry's still comes pretty close. So how can I complain?
Back to the numbers:
#1. As to real pricing mistakes, I've never gone to a store that didn't already have a notice up that their advertised price was a mistake. And if the notice wasn't up, they honor the price (and put the notice up for the next guy). I've had both happen to me. And I've never had a store not honor a legitimate price label (as opposed to one someone swapped on) since the CA law that requires it, and I never had Fry's not honor one even before that. I frequently check all the boxes of blank CDs/DVDs at Fry's to find one with an old label which is a few bucks lower after a big sale. And they honor it. Always.
As to your commant about Officemax, that's not a pricing mistake. The wrong price wasn't put on. When you said pricing mistake, I assumed you meant advertising numbers that are low and then denying it. In the case of what happened to Officemax, they are supposed to put "limited to stock on hand" or "closeout" on the ad. As to how I feel about this type of thing (advertising knowing you have low stock), I don't like it. That's why I rarely shop at Best Buy, because they are notorious for it. Fry's doesn't usually do this. I will say I have taken advantage of closeouts before, seeing them on fatwallet. I'm glad to find them, but in those cases, I know that often I won't find the item.
#2,#3. I have never bought something that gave me a "gift card". I have avoided such purchases in the past. So I just don't have the experience with that. As to honoring prices, if you buy something at Fry's which was advertised with an after rebate price, and the rebate is not honored, they will give you the difference out of their pocket. I bought a HD at Fry's where they were giving the money up front at the checkout because they had advertised an after-rebate price and found out the day of the sale that the rebate was invalid.
#6. Well, maybe things change that far from HQ (or in a state they didn't get sued in enough yet?) They sure don't down here anymore.
#7. Living in Oregon, I think you should avoid such statements as "most Fry's". "Most Fry's" (well, used to be) are near me (I live in San Jose) and they are relatively nearby. When I lived in Sunnyvale, I had 3 within 4 miles. At one time, they were ALL within a few miles of me (Palo Alto being the farthest). I do understand that outside the Bay Area they concentrate a bit more on the "superstores" that tend to be on the edge of town. I do agree that since you live farther away from your Fry's you can't take advantage of their return policies as easily.
He said the amount of fraud committed by customers is less than the fraud comitted by stores. The only reason to make relative measures like that is if you are in essence, he's saying go ahead and commit all the fraud you want, you're just 'evening the score'. And you say the same thing.
Well, it isn't legal, it isn't right. And I don't believe him anyway.
If you think you're being defrauded, don't go back. You've protected yourself from the fraud and hurt the retailer at the same time.
Now as to rebates, the other poster was referring to Fry's, so let's start from that.
When Fry's advertises an after-rebate price, and the rebate is denied, they will give you the difference out of their pocket. Again, they do this not because they are angels, but because it is how the law works. So, you either get that price in big print from a rebate, or you get it from Fry's. I don't see what you are complaining about.
Personally, I don't pay much attention to rebates anymore. They often don't pay them, and you have to pay tax on the big price anyway, so I only pay attention to them when they are very large (percentage-wise). I often buy something that costs a few bucks more than another advertised AR price because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
I bought an Xbox almost the first day (refused to buy a bundle, which was required to get one first day). I had one within a month of it coming out.
I, like the Penny Arcade guys, had an Xbox all that time, there just was no reason to turn it on. There was only one good game, and once you'd finished that one, you were stuck unless you had friends over a lot.
I have two Xboxes, I don't have any kind of MS bias. But their launch was terrible, because they had awful availibilty and almost universally terrible games. MS had to purchase several game companies to even get those awful games produced.
Xbox sure came on strong after MechAssault though. It's a great game, and there have been plenty of gems since. And even though RARE and the Oddworld Inhabitants still produce complete crap, other of MS' purchased companies learned a lot and are doing great now. After PGR1 was a poor game that became frustrating in no time, PGR2 is the flat-out best non-sim racer there is on any platform, and by a large margin.
And for the record, I didn't say the GC launch was better than the Xbox one at all, I specifically said it wasn't better. I did say the PS2 one was though. You apparently didn't even take the time to read my post.
Don't like a place's actions? Don't buy there. You don't have the right to commit fraud.
Now, as to your actual points:
1. No reputable B&M store does this. They do make mistakes. They are legitimate mistakes. 2, 3. Rebates are offered by the manufacturer, not the store. Take it up with them. 4. Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I don't buy them. 5. That's part and parcel of pricematch policies. Places want to offer them, but they don't really want to get into price wars. Deal with it. If they didn't have these outs for the pricematch policies, they probably wouldn't offer them, so I don't think you're missing out on something anyway. 6. Fry's no longer puts returned stuff back on the shelf without labelling it as returned. Not because they are angels, but because they got remaed over it in the courts. Best Buy, on the other hand, still seems to do so. I personally don't generally buy these marked boxes, because of the hassles you mention. Now, on the other hand, the one time I did, I bought a $500 video card, when I decided to take it back (defective), the serial number on the card did not match the serial number on the box (not my fault). They had to get a manager, but did they accuse me of stealing? No. 7. That's a gray area, given that you can return anything you buy there, I don't see why this is a huge problem for the customer. And besides, don't buy crap you don't need.
I shop at Fry's a lot, and my experiences have been good in general. Returns are slow there, but partially that's because they allow you to return anything (a good thing in general) and people are there returning BS, like video cards they couldn't overclock enough. Or they are returning something they bought from Fry's just to keep for 3 days while the one they ordered from newegg at a lower price arrives.
In general, I have more problem with the other customers than the store.
But again, in the end, if you don't like the place, don't buy there. You don't get to commit fraud as some kind of vigilantism.
I'm really lost by your post. The Xbox languished for almost a year before it sold much. Partially this was because of hardware availability, but partially it was because it only had one game. Really Xbox didn't start selling well until MechAssault came out. Just look at Penny Arcade.
On November 22, 2002 Tycho says: "It's been a good couple weeks for the Xbox, huh? It went from something I could mostly do without to something I use every day in the space of like eight days." Xbox was launched November 15, 2001. The PA guys finally turned on to a a year later. Does that seem like a great launch to you? Xbox only had one game worth having for a year, it was a good one, but one game isn't enough to make a great launch, let alone sustain a console for a year.
Gamecube did have some bad games, but as was pointed out elsewhere, Super Smash Bros Melee was out very quickly. Also, the Cube had Super Monkey Ball, which was an excellent group-play game.
PS2 had an average launch I would say. Despite what you say, SSX was a great game. SSX Tricky was better, once they got more time in to fix it up a bit. I still play Tricky to this day. If it weren't for Tricky, I'd still play the original SSX to this day (SSX 3 isn't as good in many ways). The rest of the PS2 titles were mediocre, as launch titles usually are.
Anyway, I would say your conclusion is incorrect. You say two consoles with poor launches are beating out one with a great launch. But you say the Xbox launch was great, when it wasn't. Really, it's a console with a decent launch (helped by being a DVD player at a time when not everyone owned one) beating out two with medicore launches.
Honestly, consoles never get good launches. It costs too much to delay launch until the games are good. The closest we get is when consoles come out in Japan first (with truly awful titles) and then come out in the US with 2nd gen titles. Also production usually ramps up slowly (and production costs down slowly) so it's nice to spread out adoption a little bit anyway.
But even before I did, with my 36" TV (4:3, not 16:9), there was no comparison between DVD (720x480) and HDTV (1280x720 or 1920x1080).
No, I'm not saying everyone needs HDTV, heck, some people's eyes are in pretty bad shape, and might not even notice the difference on a huge TV. But for most people, and more importantly, the majority of people who make up the active buying population for TVs, there is a noticeable difference, at any reasonable size.
I'll be interested to see how HDTV adoption goes. I know I wouldn't like to go back. But I think that having more sources available (HDDVD, more channels and video game consoles) will drive adoption levels up many times, perhaps to as high as 20% of the marketplace in two years.
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On my HDTiVo to view HD content. It was being output from my HDTiVo which was being output in 720p (native in the case of FOX and ABC, downconverted from 1080i in the case of CBS, NBC and others). The 2001FP is 1600x1200 and doesn't have HDCP. 1080i doesn't work well on the 2001FP because the 2001FP doesn't like interlaced input.
So, I think you're mistaken.
On an HDTiVo, if you try to view protected content on a non-HDCP monitor, it will say on the monitor "this content couldn't be displayed" or some such nonsense.
Except the HDTiVo only does this to channels with the broadcast flag set. And there are no channels with the broadcast flag set, except for one test channel.
At least that is what I understand.
So I think the problem is something else in your system, the lack of HDCP. I could be wrong, I haven't tried this in months and the HDTiVo software has changed recently, but I don't think it has changed.
(and it's "affected", just to be pedantic)
You are having difficulty understanding that our legal system is not the same as our school system. The principals are done with this, the case is in the court. Will the kids get off? Maybe. Will that hurt the school? It might. But that isn't really under the school's control.
You would get the best lawyer possible to make sure your kid doesn't suffer the consequences for what they did wrong. Great lesson. As an added bonus, if your kid gets off, you undermine the school too. Wonderful. And you complain about the administrators?
Look, they spied on the teachers. How do you know what harm was and wasn't done? They could have seen the teachers exposing critical personal info. And you say the students didn't do anything to merit punishment?
You say you hacked the computers at your school. And your teacher stopped you, and you didn't end up seeing a judge. Well, did you hack the computers again, as these students did?
Not only did they surely know what they did was wrong, but they were stopped, told so, told of the consequences and they did it again.
As to "they are not citizens, but kids". My post said that "future citizens take responsibility for their actions". They are presumably future citizens. And they will become better citizens if we treat them as such, not if we treat them as kids.
I mean lately? I've installed 3 video cards in the last year (in different machines). None required any effort to get windows to recognize it. Remove driver. Put in card. Download driver. Install driver. DONE.
/etc? or /usr/etc? or /usr/local/etc? /usr/share/etc? Maybe /usr/local/lib? It's a complete mess on Linux, far worse.
Yes, I can stop Real Player from launching at startup. Although honestly, I just don't install Real. It sucks. Are there no programs for Linux that suck?
Completely removing software? Microsoft has worked VERY hard at this. All Windows programs must have an installer and an uninstaller before they get the Windows logo. That's more than I can say for Linux or Mac OS. Sometimes the uninstaller doesn't work perfectly, it's true. But MS has given it a lot of effort. Say... how do you remove a Linux program without leaving turds behind? Maybe they're in
As to "for dummies". If you have read any dummies book you know it's nothing like a man page. Explain to me how you learned to run vi from the man page, go ahead.
No, things aren't as simple as they can be in Windows, but they're pretty simple. Configuring multiple email accounts? With different spam filters for every account? That's not a normal thing to do, so of course the answer isn't simple. The way you simplify is by making the common things simple. The uncommon things (like not showing the taskbar) should be hidden a bit so they don't confuse the user using the simple case.
The dumping icons thing is way out of control on Windows. You have to regularly clean out the system tray and desktop. And machines come with like 30 icons on the desktop.
But all being said and done, Windows is a lot easier to learn and use than Linux. By a long shot. Microsoft has worked hard to make it so. They haven't won the war, there's definitely still stuff that isn't easy. But after the huge success of Win95 they know it's their big competitive advantage and they'll work hard to stay there.
Most people in this country have insurance. The number of people who could "afford" bypasses if everyone had insurance would less than double with universal insurance.
What makes it so there are no lines in the US is the ridiculous amount of money to be made, since we don't have a single payer system. There are plenty of heart doctors because heart doctoring pays big bucks.
So, if we went to a socialized medicine system, then perhaps there would be lines. With no real money as the scarce resource to decide what you get, time becomes the currency. Just like in Canada, or the USSR. Get in line for your "free" stuff.
I'm not saying socialized medicine doesn't have its merits, even perhaps is better than our current system. But it has its downsides too.
Which one is VGA (HDI-15) better than?
Not DVI or HDMI. VGA cannot carry digital signals like they can.
Perhaps you mean Composite or component? All 3 component formats and composite all predate VGA & the HDI-15. Component video (YPbPr) was used on Sony's Betacam (not to be confused with Beta) in 1982. Component RGB was around at least as long. VGA (HDI-15) came out in 1987.
S-Video (Y/C) also predates VGA, although the 4-pin connector doesn't. Perhaps you used the Y/C connectors on your Amiga or C-64 to hook to your (premium) Commodore monitor.
S-Video was unavoidable because of how VCRs work (the connector was created by JVC for their S-VHS decks in 1988), component video for those devices wouldn't have been cost-effective.
So perhaps it is VGA that never should have happened?
As to DVI and HDMI, it's easy to convert HDMI to DVI if your TV has DVI.
And BTW, you forgot RF (F-connector). Most TVs have at least one of those too. And some have Firewire.
...Take responsibility.
It's the school's fault because they didn't take the students computers away? They merely told them it was wrong, they should have known so and don't do it again. And yet they're at fault and not the kids?
Wrong.
Citizens must take reponsibility for their own actions.
As to "doing real harm", they spied on the teachers actions. There's plenty of room for harm there.
I also see how checking equipment in and out would solve anything. If they're going to hack school property that is in their possession for weeks, they'll do it for a day or hours too. They'll just cover their tracks better. Thus they'll learn the lesson kids learn very well nowadays: "It's only wrong if you get caught."
It was wrong to do what they did. No ifs, ands, or buts. No argument over punishments, esclations, anything. They need to know better than to do what they did. Even if there were no consequences, it's still wrong. If they can't learn this on their own, then punishment is quite appropriate. Maybe they'll learn it that way.
It's stunning to me how fast slashdotters rise to defend the actions of people that are clearly legally and morally wrong. That somehow they shouldn't be punished. That rules are for other people. Well, they aren't. They're for all of us. And by letting kids know that there is a right and a wrong, they help those kids be successful (in the right ways) in the future.
Which had a fsqrte (floating-point square root reciprocal estimate) instruction since 1996 (PPC 604).
It wasn't specified in the docs I don't think, but fsqrte was accurate to something like 12 or 14 significant bits. After 2 Newton-Raphson iterations I believe the answer was correct to 1 bit less than the number of significant bits in an IEEE double.
At least, that's how I remember it.
Kids use the passwords to spy on the administrators/teachers? I don't care how you slice it, that's just plain wrong. It's the same as opening a teacher's drawers to look for answers to a test. Just because the drawer isn't locked doesn't mean it isn't wrong. There's no "the technology made me do it" or "the password was on the back" defense here.
As far as I'm concerned, they have to throw the book at them. You can't let the kids run the school. You can let them have a lot of say in it, especially in the social aspects. But this is much too far.
I also don't get your comment that this school clearly creates an environment for failure. Are you familiar with the school? I'm not, and just from these stories about this particular issue, I can't tell anything about whether the environment encourages kids in academic and social ways.
Honestly, half of your post just doesn't make sense to me.
Added note: schools don't charge kids with felonies, district attorneys do.
Yet it at times runs over.
Just because something is all scheduled out doesn't mean it can't run over schedule.
Ask Terry Gilliam.
"Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud (Miller)" isn't fraudlent. And the case of putting "HP" in huge letters on the front of your non-HP printer cartridge is borderline.
I think you've just missed the case where if you try to associate yourself with your competitors' trademarked name (as opposed to just pretending your are your competitors product) it isn't fraud, at least you aren't defrauding the consumer. The company who holds the trademark would claim injury though.
Anyway, these two circumstances are the most relevant here. Because they deal not with out and out counterfeiting but a confusion between two products.
We will see if this holds up, the confusion in the adwords case is a lot less clear cut and thus a lot more argueable than putting your oat-rings in a box that looks nearly identical to a Cheerios box.
Or perhaps just plain wrong.
The basis for trademark law is the idea of unfair competition.
So let's start testing this.
It is legal to mention your competitor's trademarked name to say you are better than them, if it is true. And by true, that means proveably true. This is because it isn't unfair to state the truth. Not that if you can't prove it, because it is a matter of opinion (taste tests) or because you are playing tricks in your tests (like the paper towel strength tests), then you use "brand X".
It is legal to use a companies' trademarked name for non-commercial purposes. This is because it isn't competition since it isn't even a commmercial endeavour.
It is not legal to use a companies' trademarked name to lie about them (especially commercially), that would be unfair. Although it's pretty much unfair to lie about a company anyway even if you did avoid their trademark.
It is not legal to masquerade as another company. For example, if I make breakfast oat-rings, I cannot just print up a Cheerios box and put them in it so they sell better. That would be using the properties of General Mills against them. Every dollar they spent advertising or building a name would actually work for me too (and thus against them), I'm unfairly leveraging their efforts.
Now, what about just mentioning them to say you are like them (or perhaps unlike them), as in this case. It is possible to do this legally. For example, if I make an aftermarket HP-compatible ink cartridge I can use their name to indicate what it is. I can say "HP-compatible". Or even "compatible with HP printers" or "replaces HP cartridge #XXYY-035". However, there is an easy way to get in trouble in this case. If I made my box say "HP" covering 90% of the front of the box and my company name in tiny lettering in the corner or on the side, I would be masquerading as an HP product (at least long enough to get your attention), and again that would be unfair. See Negativland's U2 album http://foetusized.org/u2.html for example.
This can happen for regular advertising too. For example, Miller's ads could say "Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud Bud (Miller)" and basically associate themselves more strongly with Budweiser than their own name. That would be unfair too. It even could happen with a (normally legal) comparison ad, like the "better than" ads above. You could truthfully mention you are better than the other product, but spend so much time (or space) in your ad doing it that you are using their name to associate with yours. Obviously all of this is subject to some interpretation.
So, to go to the AdWords thing, is it illegal? Well, you are using a competitors term and using it commercially. So the competition part is there. But the question is, is it unfair to pop up when your competitor's trademarked term is entered. In my opinion, it probably is. In this case, your product's "box art" (the item that attracts people to look at your product/ad) is essentially 100% your competitor's trademarks. It's like that Negativland cover. When someone sees it from far away, it looks more like your compeitition than yourself; and by design. Information that says that this isn't really your competitor's product is available in your detailed ad, but isn't nearly as visible, and requires a more detailed examination, like hiding your name down in the corner or on the side of the box. Furthermore, every ad dollar your competitor spends is twisted to work against them by helping you. The more people learn their name and enter it into the search box, the more your name pops up.
Thus, in my opinion, buying adwords of your competitor's trademarks is probably unfair competition and thus illegal. And if judges think like me (I shudder to think) they have no choice but to rule against Google. I don't feel it should be illegal, so I would like Congress to step in and change the law in this case. Will they do it? Probably depends on who has the most lobbying money.
There's two answers:
I had a 6800 Ultra in an Antec Sonata (mini-Tower) case with two HDs and two optical drives, and it has only a single case fan and that was only at 5V or something. Plus the PS has only a single PS fan.
So basically, no air flow.
The additional thing to know is that the 50C "case temp" I reported is actually the "ambient" sensor on the 6800 Ultra, so it doesn't mean my whole case interior was really at 50C. In fact, I would say it wasn't, since you could touch the case and it didn't feel warm.
The sensor is probably somewhat incorrect due to how my Zalman GPU cooler spreads air around the video card. The stock cooing solution didn't push any air over the edges of the card and so the "ambient" sensor is probably there. Now the ambient sensor probably gets some cooling (i.e. heated) air over it.
Either way, I don't give a rip. 50C isn't much to electronics. If the thing wasn't malfunctioning, I wouldn't even have bothered speeding up the rear fan.
My case temps were hovering around 50C, and my GPU temp was hitting 80C (playing Half-Life 2). Honestly, I wouldn't care much, except my GPU started glitching. It glitched enough it became quite annoying. I already have a Zalman video card cooler for it, and it moves a lot of air quietly, it just seemed to me like that blowing 50C air over the video card isn't going to cool it as effectively as room-temp air.
So I kicked my case fan up to full speed, and it solved the problem. Case temps are now around 40C and the GPU hits about 75C. Glitching is gone.
But the case fan is too loud this way (even though it is a 120mm) so I got a new one, and a fan controller. I'll dial down the speed to compromise on temp and noise.
If I didn't have this stupid 6800 ULTRA video card, I wouldn't have any problems with temps.
They want to be the bosses of audio-DRM (well, all DRM) and thus they created the Plays For Sure initiative http://www.playsforsure.com/. This group, led by Microsoft, works to try to stop the dominance of the iPod. This would benefit MS by allowing them to own (or even be a significant player in) the audio DRM market and would benefit the makes of the music players by allowing them to sell more hardware.
So, the devices doing the denting are the ones on that page. That is, those backed by Microsoft.
I cannot say that when I was 10-13 there was no content I couldn't deal with. I'm not saying I wouldn't let my (fictitious) 13 year old play GTA:SA, but I am saying that there's a big difference between a 13 year old and a mature adult in what they can handle.
I cannot imagine what you talk about when you say 13 was a full adult. I know a 13 year old can do a lot of things, they can hold down a job quite well. But I know how badly most 18 year olds manage their affairs, I can't imagine 13 year olds would do particularly well.
I have to say we do live in more compicated times in many ways. Yes, you're right about how easy and soft things are. But also, there is so much more access to information. A 13 year old could easily see things (pictures of things) that people in the times you speak of would never see in their lifetime.
When you were young even access to regular porn was rare. Stag films still existed and were quite an event to view. Porn theaters did exist, but anyone under age wasn't getting into them. For most kids their Father's Playboy mags was perhaps the raciest thing they would imagine seeing. Now things of that sort are a few keypresses away, even to young people.
And it wasn't just that, there are pictures and films of awful, degrading acts of violence that not easily available before. Remember the titelation when you heard of "Faces of Death"? Perhaps you even saw it in your early teens (when videotape become widespread). That's all available to anyone at any age with ease now.
And Custer's Revenge was worse than GTA:SA? I can't agree. The images in Custer's Revenge were so crude, anyone without a knowledge of what they represent couldn't possibly be affected by them. It's like telling a dirty joke to a 5 year old. They don't have the context, it goes over their head.
Any I do understand you found one older game that wasn't for kids. But it was the very rare exception. And Custer's Revenge was VERY poorly distributed. There were so few copies sold. Really, before the Sony PlayStation, video games were targeted almost solely at kids. Parents bought the games for their children, not for themselves. Sony recognized the market was opening up to making it possible to sell video games to adults, and they changed the marketplace completely.
So I don't agree that just because you're not likely to be eaten by wolves that the world is a simpler, kinder place than it was. It's a lot more complex than that.
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/wi reless/cb21ag/acau01/auappb.htm
We have 11 channels in the US, there are 14 in Japan and 13 in the EU.
And what company wants to make 3 chips when they can make one? If you make 3 chips, then you have a stocking problem. what happens when you have 1,000,000 EU chips on hand and someone wants to buy 1,000,000 JPN chips? If they're all the same, you don't have a problem. But if they're different.
And then the company that makes the product with the chips has to make 3 different versions and has their own stocking problem.
Finally, due to how frequencies are generated, it is difficult in hardware to truly keep people from generating improper frequencies. Remember how much work Intel and AMD do to limit overclocking (and how unsuccessful they are in the end).
Finally, in 802.11, it is the device that creates the network that picks the frequency. So your laptop can easily be universal, accepting and responding on any frequency that is legal anywhere in the world, assuming that the base stations in an area will only be on legal frequencies. But base stations aren't as universal.
All in all this really sounds like a "problem you don't understand".
Get any Sony from the last year or any Canon with the DIGIC II processor (this does not include the G6, BTW). They have very little shutter lag.
And it isn't like SLRs don't have shutter lag anyway. They have to move the mirror box before taking the shot.
Batteries last a long time on digital cameras now. You don't need to change film stocks, because you can use photoshop to do that stuff, and if you leave it turned on by mistake, the battery will still be good weeks later because (as you point out), it will turn itself off automatically after 2 minutes.
Note that on the Sony DSC-T1 camera, you can turn the backlight OFF and read the LCD perfectly in broad daylight. It's a fantastic display. The DSC-T7 has the same LCD, it still looks great in direct sunlight, although you cannot turn the backlight off for some reason.
As to buttons and dials being clearly marked, again, you just need to get a decent camera. There are poor SLRs and there are good digital SLRs (and good digital SLRs too).
I switched from Google to Yahoo after a friend suggested I "put my money where my mouth is" when I was saying I thought Google was vastly overrated (we were talking about the stock price).
So now I use search.yahoo.com whenever I search.
Honestly, you can hardly tell the difference between it and Google. Both work great. Once in a while I think Yahoo's results suck and I try them on Google. Only once is great while are Google's results actually better.
I think most companies do realize you won't come back if they treat you poorly enough. I think they also realize exactly how poorly they can treat you before you will leave. And they walk that line for maximum profitability. Especially if everyone else does it (Best Buy being notorious).
Maybe that sounds crass. I used to be on the "customer is always right" bandwagon. But then I returned a few items at Fry's. I had a few people tell me "buy that at Fry's, order it from newegg, and return the Fry's one when the newegg one comes in". I saw young adults "purchase" camcorders for use over spring break, knowing they will return them afterwards. I had people tell me they bought the same video card at Best Buy, Comp USA and Fry's, and return the two that couldn't be overclocked as much. I had people tell me to buy something at Fry's try it out, and if I liked it, return it and buy it online. After all that, I just can't go with the idea that a store does best by allowing anyone to return anything. And yet Fry's still comes pretty close. So how can I complain?
Back to the numbers:
#1. As to real pricing mistakes, I've never gone to a store that didn't already have a notice up that their advertised price was a mistake. And if the notice wasn't up, they honor the price (and put the notice up for the next guy). I've had both happen to me. And I've never had a store not honor a legitimate price label (as opposed to one someone swapped on) since the CA law that requires it, and I never had Fry's not honor one even before that. I frequently check all the boxes of blank CDs/DVDs at Fry's to find one with an old label which is a few bucks lower after a big sale. And they honor it. Always.
As to your commant about Officemax, that's not a pricing mistake. The wrong price wasn't put on. When you said pricing mistake, I assumed you meant advertising numbers that are low and then denying it. In the case of what happened to Officemax, they are supposed to put "limited to stock on hand" or "closeout" on the ad. As to how I feel about this type of thing (advertising knowing you have low stock), I don't like it. That's why I rarely shop at Best Buy, because they are notorious for it. Fry's doesn't usually do this. I will say I have taken advantage of closeouts before, seeing them on fatwallet. I'm glad to find them, but in those cases, I know that often I won't find the item.
#2,#3. I have never bought something that gave me a "gift card". I have avoided such purchases in the past. So I just don't have the experience with that. As to honoring prices, if you buy something at Fry's which was advertised with an after rebate price, and the rebate is not honored, they will give you the difference out of their pocket. I bought a HD at Fry's where they were giving the money up front at the checkout because they had advertised an after-rebate price and found out the day of the sale that the rebate was invalid.
#6. Well, maybe things change that far from HQ (or in a state they didn't get sued in enough yet?) They sure don't down here anymore.
#7. Living in Oregon, I think you should avoid such statements as "most Fry's". "Most Fry's" (well, used to be) are near me (I live in San Jose) and they are relatively nearby. When I lived in Sunnyvale, I had 3 within 4 miles. At one time, they were ALL within a few miles of me (Palo Alto being the farthest). I do understand that outside the Bay Area they concentrate a bit more on the "superstores" that tend to be on the edge of town. I do agree that since you live farther away from your Fry's you can't take advantage of their return policies as easily.
He said the amount of fraud committed by customers is less than the fraud comitted by stores. The only reason to make relative measures like that is if you are in essence, he's saying go ahead and commit all the fraud you want, you're just 'evening the score'. And you say the same thing.
Well, it isn't legal, it isn't right. And I don't believe him anyway.
If you think you're being defrauded, don't go back. You've protected yourself from the fraud and hurt the retailer at the same time.
Now as to rebates, the other poster was referring to Fry's, so let's start from that.
When Fry's advertises an after-rebate price, and the rebate is denied, they will give you the difference out of their pocket. Again, they do this not because they are angels, but because it is how the law works. So, you either get that price in big print from a rebate, or you get it from Fry's. I don't see what you are complaining about.
Personally, I don't pay much attention to rebates anymore. They often don't pay them, and you have to pay tax on the big price anyway, so I only pay attention to them when they are very large (percentage-wise). I often buy something that costs a few bucks more than another advertised AR price because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
I bought an Xbox almost the first day (refused to buy a bundle, which was required to get one first day). I had one within a month of it coming out.
I, like the Penny Arcade guys, had an Xbox all that time, there just was no reason to turn it on. There was only one good game, and once you'd finished that one, you were stuck unless you had friends over a lot.
I have two Xboxes, I don't have any kind of MS bias. But their launch was terrible, because they had awful availibilty and almost universally terrible games. MS had to purchase several game companies to even get those awful games produced.
Xbox sure came on strong after MechAssault though. It's a great game, and there have been plenty of gems since. And even though RARE and the Oddworld Inhabitants still produce complete crap, other of MS' purchased companies learned a lot and are doing great now. After PGR1 was a poor game that became frustrating in no time, PGR2 is the flat-out best non-sim racer there is on any platform, and by a large margin.
And for the record, I didn't say the GC launch was better than the Xbox one at all, I specifically said it wasn't better. I did say the PS2 one was though. You apparently didn't even take the time to read my post.
Don't like a place's actions? Don't buy there. You don't have the right to commit fraud.
Now, as to your actual points:
1. No reputable B&M store does this. They do make mistakes. They are legitimate mistakes.
2, 3. Rebates are offered by the manufacturer, not the store. Take it up with them.
4. Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I don't buy them.
5. That's part and parcel of pricematch policies. Places want to offer them, but they don't really want to get into price wars. Deal with it. If they didn't have these outs for the pricematch policies, they probably wouldn't offer them, so I don't think you're missing out on something anyway.
6. Fry's no longer puts returned stuff back on the shelf without labelling it as returned. Not because they are angels, but because they got remaed over it in the courts. Best Buy, on the other hand, still seems to do so. I personally don't generally buy these marked boxes, because of the hassles you mention. Now, on the other hand, the one time I did, I bought a $500 video card, when I decided to take it back (defective), the serial number on the card did not match the serial number on the box (not my fault). They had to get a manager, but did they accuse me of stealing? No.
7. That's a gray area, given that you can return anything you buy there, I don't see why this is a huge problem for the customer. And besides, don't buy crap you don't need.
I shop at Fry's a lot, and my experiences have been good in general. Returns are slow there, but partially that's because they allow you to return anything (a good thing in general) and people are there returning BS, like video cards they couldn't overclock enough. Or they are returning something they bought from Fry's just to keep for 3 days while the one they ordered from newegg at a lower price arrives.
In general, I have more problem with the other customers than the store.
But again, in the end, if you don't like the place, don't buy there. You don't get to commit fraud as some kind of vigilantism.
I'm really lost by your post. The Xbox languished for almost a year before it sold much. Partially this was because of hardware availability, but partially it was because it only had one game. Really Xbox didn't start selling well until MechAssault came out. Just look at Penny Arcade.
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http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2002-11
On November 22, 2002 Tycho says: "It's been a good couple weeks for the Xbox, huh? It went from something I could mostly do without to something I use every day in the space of like eight days." Xbox was launched November 15, 2001. The PA guys finally turned on to a a year later. Does that seem like a great launch to you? Xbox only had one game worth having for a year, it was a good one, but one game isn't enough to make a great launch, let alone sustain a console for a year.
Gamecube did have some bad games, but as was pointed out elsewhere, Super Smash Bros Melee was out very quickly. Also, the Cube had Super Monkey Ball, which was an excellent group-play game.
PS2 had an average launch I would say. Despite what you say, SSX was a great game. SSX Tricky was better, once they got more time in to fix it up a bit. I still play Tricky to this day. If it weren't for Tricky, I'd still play the original SSX to this day (SSX 3 isn't as good in many ways). The rest of the PS2 titles were mediocre, as launch titles usually are.
Anyway, I would say your conclusion is incorrect. You say two consoles with poor launches are beating out one with a great launch. But you say the Xbox launch was great, when it wasn't. Really, it's a console with a decent launch (helped by being a DVD player at a time when not everyone owned one) beating out two with medicore launches.
Honestly, consoles never get good launches. It costs too much to delay launch until the games are good. The closest we get is when consoles come out in Japan first (with truly awful titles) and then come out in the US with 2nd gen titles. Also production usually ramps up slowly (and production costs down slowly) so it's nice to spread out adoption a little bit anyway.
They're called symlinks, not softlinks.
NTFS does plenty of permissions, it has ACLs even.
I think it supports an entire superset of what UFS (or Berkeley FFS) does.
But even before I did, with my 36" TV (4:3, not 16:9), there was no comparison between DVD (720x480) and HDTV (1280x720 or 1920x1080).
No, I'm not saying everyone needs HDTV, heck, some people's eyes are in pretty bad shape, and might not even notice the difference on a huge TV. But for most people, and more importantly, the majority of people who make up the active buying population for TVs, there is a noticeable difference, at any reasonable size.
I'll be interested to see how HDTV adoption goes. I know I wouldn't like to go back. But I think that having more sources available (HDDVD, more channels and video game consoles) will drive adoption levels up many times, perhaps to as high as 20% of the marketplace in two years.