"Why do they keep trying to force a product we clearly don't like down our throats?"
Yes, that's exactly what they are doing. Forcing you.
As the market at large becomes more accepting of downloaded video material, one of these services will become profitable... NBC is hoping it's them. Plus, they already have brand accetance, so it's not some newfangled acronym for the Mom&pops out there. They're not targeting the slashdot crowd.
"Now, if you discount the R+D costs (and only consider the per-unit cost of the XBox 360) I would be willing to bet that Microsoft is at least breaking even on the Base Unit and Hard-Drive, and could potentially be 'turning a profit' on the Base Unit."
Better also discount marketing costs and administrative costs. As MS produces more units, the marginal cost of a 360 will go down, but they've a lot of overhead that you've got to factor in.
"Adjusted for inflation the 360 is also cheaper at launch than NES SNES N64 PS1 PS2 and the Xbox1"
I know this has been gone over dozens of times on Slashdot, but that's not exactly true, since full functionality is not included in the base price. Never mind the hard drive, 2nd controller, etc...
Specifically, I'm talking about online play. Yes, this was not a capability of early gen consoles, but it's a core function of the coming generation of consoles. Factor in the cost of subscriptions, and the total cost is ridiculous.
I wouldn't make this distinction, except that a ton of games are being designed around online play, and you won't be able to get all the content you paid for purchasing the game unless you play online.
This business model for MS has worked in lots of markets... give the hardware for free or cheap, but make people pay for the service -- Cell phones are the easiest example I can think of, but there are many others.
Re:Imminent Death of Usenet Predicted.. Film at 11
on
Requiem for Usenet
·
· Score: 1
Sorry, should have written "evidence that it may be happening."
"from what I've read of late, traffic is UP on usenet, not down"
Good point, but I wonder how much current usenet traffic is valid. Seems to me that bots and spammers account for a ton of the traffic, dunno if it is more, or how much more, than in the past.
In addition, there's the concern of whether HDTV really improves the viewing experience at all.
The article I linked to talks about some new production technology that is projected to halve the cost of HDTVs in the next year or two... this should help, but more at the high end of what's available. Also, you may want to consider that gaming is not the only reason people buy HDTVs... I've seen football (soccer) matches on HDTV and they really blew normal broadcast out of the water, especially on a large set. This may not apply to your case, but it's definitely a consideration for me.
"Either journalism is your career or it is something you amateurishly ape."
Well, you've almost hit the nail on the head.
'Citizen Journalist' is a euphemism for 'Amateur Journalist,' no one wants to be considered an amateur, since then people will take them less seriously.
Also, the word 'citizen' is used to convey that the author is writing about political issues from the standpoint of an individual, with a nod to the resonsibilities of citizenship.
It's an attempt to lend creditability to a 'blog, as well as differentiate from organizationally-sponsored 'blogs.
Finally, I don't think it's fair to say that those who are not professional journalists can only 'amateurishly ape' professional journalists. If anything, professional journalists have an inherent problem, since they depend upon their writing for their livelihood. This may affect both their writing style and their content, in order to deliver a saleable good. I'd much rather have a journalist who is only after the truth, than one who's after the truth and paying the bills through their writing.
"BUt online play is especially important at the beginning as MOST people do not have a HDTV, and while it would be nice MOST are not going to shell out the 2000-4000 dollars to get one."
Just wait until February, when consumer electronics prices drop. Especially this year in the US, since there is expected to be a pretty stiff drop in consumer spending around that time... in addition to the annual post-holiday season lull, there are also all the bills for heating coming due, which will cost the typical homeowner several hundred dollars more than last year.
Yes, actually, they could. But it's not worth the cost of doing so, both in terms of litigation and in terms of collection. It's also hard to prove damages when the end user is not involved in reselling the technology.
US Code, pulled from the wikipedia article on patent infringement (emphasis mine): "A person directly infringes a patent by making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing into the US any patented invention, without authority, during the term of the patent. 35 U.S.C. 271(a)"
"You are talking about a patent infringement that would affect the companies and people distributing Linux and not the people using it."
It could definitely affect users as well as distributors. Should licensing to a distributor be denied, those users could get screwed by not having any support for their distro.
Not only that, but IP rights can be enforced on the end user as well as the distributors, since they are also using the IP without a license.
Yes, and it has the added advantage of getting people to pay to download popular music right away, to beat the rush & resultant price increases. Look for less of a long tail on the purchase graph, especially if the IP owners don't respond to dropping demand as quickly as they do to rising demand.
"Bad form? Oh no, whatever will I do if people at the hotel see me not being ripped off?"
When your business depends on the image you present to the public... think of sales reps for advertising, or high-end products. Or when your livelihood depends on your rep. It's the same reason people wear designer clothes.
"Just seems like a very strange practice, projecting ghost earnings or ghost losses to manipulate the market. And also an illegal one."
That's why the **AA don't include it on their financial statements, shareholder statements, or other financial disclosures. And typically, they'll talk about lost revenue, which they can do.
FTFSpeculation: "it seems to me like it's some efffort to develop ways to jam the electronics of incoming missiles from Russia and/or China (I don't think it's an accident HAARP's initial funding came from Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative)"
It could also be that the Star Wars Initiative was based on satellites being able to communicate, and communication in the ionosphere (with endemic electrical currents) was thought to be possibly very tricky, especially in latitudes where the northern lights are a visible manifestation of such.
Not to troll, but I think it's better to have your kid(s) understand that you are setting the limits, that you are enforcing them as well.
It's important that they learn to make the right decision, and not have automated restrictions on their behavior control them... otherwise, what happens when the restrictions are removed?
Although, since constant monitoring is neither possible nor desirable, there's got to be a way to limit their time. My kids use a windows box, perhaps timed access for each userid? Anyone know of any free solutions for this?
"The worry many people have about using stem cells is that if this method skyrockets, there will be a higher demand for stem cells, which at the moment at least would necessitate a large commercial market for dead babies."
Any VC's out there who would like to get in on the opportunity of a lifetime? I'd love to show you my business plans, just sign this NDA and we can begin discussing your investment in my plan to leverage my biotech knowledge to realize substantial gains by cornering the market on dead babies.. oh yeah, and it's NANOTECH.
Slashdot Mirror
Assume a useful life of 3 years. 36*$6 = $216. My point was that the 360 is not cheaper than previous consoles when edjusted for inflation.
Not that the 360 is OMGWTF expensive, but it's not accurate to say that it's cheaper than it's predecessors or competitors.
It says once it's been downloaded right in the summary
IMO, it should be 24 hours once you first begin viewing it.
"Why do they keep trying to force a product we clearly don't like down our throats?"
Yes, that's exactly what they are doing. Forcing you.
As the market at large becomes more accepting of downloaded video material, one of these services will become profitable... NBC is hoping it's them. Plus, they already have brand accetance, so it's not some newfangled acronym for the Mom&pops out there. They're not targeting the slashdot crowd.
It takes ridiculous posters a while to catch up, but phraselaters are referenced in TFA and do not have the same capabilities.
RTFA.
Good points, but it doesn't invalidate that you're not getting full functionality without spending lots of extra cash.
You're right, of course, it's neither as bad as the FUD says, nor as good as the marketers and fanboys say.
"Now, if you discount the R+D costs (and only consider the per-unit cost of the XBox 360) I would be willing to bet that Microsoft is at least breaking even on the Base Unit and Hard-Drive, and could potentially be 'turning a profit' on the Base Unit."
Better also discount marketing costs and administrative costs. As MS produces more units, the marginal cost of a 360 will go down, but they've a lot of overhead that you've got to factor in.
"Adjusted for inflation the 360 is also cheaper at launch than NES SNES N64 PS1 PS2 and the Xbox1"
I know this has been gone over dozens of times on Slashdot, but that's not exactly true, since full functionality is not included in the base price. Never mind the hard drive, 2nd controller, etc...
Specifically, I'm talking about online play. Yes, this was not a capability of early gen consoles, but it's a core function of the coming generation of consoles. Factor in the cost of subscriptions, and the total cost is ridiculous.
I wouldn't make this distinction, except that a ton of games are being designed around online play, and you won't be able to get all the content you paid for purchasing the game unless you play online.
This business model for MS has worked in lots of markets... give the hardware for free or cheap, but make people pay for the service -- Cell phones are the easiest example I can think of, but there are many others.
Sorry, should have written "evidence that it may be happening."
"from what I've read of late, traffic is UP on usenet, not down"
Good point, but I wonder how much current usenet traffic is valid. Seems to me that bots and spammers account for a ton of the traffic, dunno if it is more, or how much more, than in the past.
"a security researcher called ANELKAOS alerted the company to the problem"
If someone named ANALCHAOS told me I had a bug, you bet I'd look into that right away.
"People have been predicting this for years!"
And yet this is evidence that it's actually happening.
Just because predictions sometimes start becoming reality doesn't mean that the actual events aren't news, or of interest.
In addition, there's the concern of whether HDTV really improves the viewing experience at all.
The article I linked to talks about some new production technology that is projected to halve the cost of HDTVs in the next year or two... this should help, but more at the high end of what's available. Also, you may want to consider that gaming is not the only reason people buy HDTVs... I've seen football (soccer) matches on HDTV and they really blew normal broadcast out of the water, especially on a large set. This may not apply to your case, but it's definitely a consideration for me.
"Either journalism is your career or it is something you amateurishly ape."
Well, you've almost hit the nail on the head.
'Citizen Journalist' is a euphemism for 'Amateur Journalist,' no one wants to be considered an amateur, since then people will take them less seriously.
Also, the word 'citizen' is used to convey that the author is writing about political issues from the standpoint of an individual, with a nod to the resonsibilities of citizenship.
It's an attempt to lend creditability to a 'blog, as well as differentiate from organizationally-sponsored 'blogs.
Finally, I don't think it's fair to say that those who are not professional journalists can only 'amateurishly ape' professional journalists. If anything, professional journalists have an inherent problem, since they depend upon their writing for their livelihood. This may affect both their writing style and their content, in order to deliver a saleable good. I'd much rather have a journalist who is only after the truth, than one who's after the truth and paying the bills through their writing.
"BUt online play is especially important at the beginning as MOST people do not have a HDTV, and while it would be nice MOST are not going to shell out the 2000-4000 dollars to get one."
p ?artsec=17&artnum=1&issue=20051018
Just wait until February, when consumer electronics prices drop. Especially this year in the US, since there is expected to be a pretty stiff drop in consumer spending around that time... in addition to the annual post-holiday season lull, there are also all the bills for heating coming due, which will cost the typical homeowner several hundred dollars more than last year.
Here's an interesting article from investors.com on 10/18 about projected HDTV price, mfgring cost, and demand: http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.as
Yes, actually, they could. But it's not worth the cost of doing so, both in terms of litigation and in terms of collection. It's also hard to prove damages when the end user is not involved in reselling the technology.
US Code, pulled from the wikipedia article on patent infringement (emphasis mine): "A person directly infringes a patent by making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing into the US any patented invention, without authority, during the term of the patent. 35 U.S.C. 271(a)"
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_infringement
"What's next, mainstream references to the Fruit Fucker?"
Sure beats a video Daily Double of goatse.
"You are talking about a patent infringement that would affect the companies and people distributing Linux and not the people using it."
It could definitely affect users as well as distributors. Should licensing to a distributor be denied, those users could get screwed by not having any support for their distro.
Not only that, but IP rights can be enforced on the end user as well as the distributors, since they are also using the IP without a license.
Yes, and it has the added advantage of getting people to pay to download popular music right away, to beat the rush & resultant price increases. Look for less of a long tail on the purchase graph, especially if the IP owners don't respond to dropping demand as quickly as they do to rising demand.
"Bad form? Oh no, whatever will I do if people at the hotel see me not being ripped off?"
When your business depends on the image you present to the public... think of sales reps for advertising, or high-end products. Or when your livelihood depends on your rep. It's the same reason people wear designer clothes.
Love the comments in TFA link... someone got a Godwin FP.
Too bad it was seriously intended, and did not, for one, welcome Beowulf clusters of Nazi overlords.
"told Der Spiegel that violent games 'have no place in Germany's bedrooms.'"
Let me get this straight, no violent games in German bedrooms?
Guess we'll have to go back to playing scheisse games.
Guess what? How about the idea that the German government has no place in their citizens' bedrooms?
"Just seems like a very strange practice, projecting ghost earnings or ghost losses to manipulate the market. And also an illegal one."
That's why the **AA don't include it on their financial statements, shareholder statements, or other financial disclosures. And typically, they'll talk about lost revenue, which they can do.
FTFSpeculation: "it seems to me like it's some efffort to develop ways to jam the electronics of incoming missiles from Russia and/or China (I don't think it's an accident HAARP's initial funding came from Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative)"
/tinfoil (not aluminum foil) hat half-off
It could also be that the Star Wars Initiative was based on satellites being able to communicate, and communication in the ionosphere (with endemic electrical currents) was thought to be possibly very tricky, especially in latitudes where the northern lights are a visible manifestation of such.
" Tell them to use comments in code, and be sure that they make them good comments."
:)
I find that a user-moderated comment system works well for me in my workplace
Not to troll, but I think it's better to have your kid(s) understand that you are setting the limits, that you are enforcing them as well.
It's important that they learn to make the right decision, and not have automated restrictions on their behavior control them... otherwise, what happens when the restrictions are removed?
Although, since constant monitoring is neither possible nor desirable, there's got to be a way to limit their time. My kids use a windows box, perhaps timed access for each userid? Anyone know of any free solutions for this?
"The worry many people have about using stem cells is that if this method skyrockets, there will be a higher demand for stem cells, which at the moment at least would necessitate a large commercial market for dead babies."
Any VC's out there who would like to get in on the opportunity of a lifetime? I'd love to show you my business plans, just sign this NDA and we can begin discussing your investment in my plan to leverage my biotech knowledge to realize substantial gains by cornering the market on dead babies.. oh yeah, and it's NANOTECH.