The inputs of your sound card are severely degraded in software if the card is also playing an audio program (tested here with Grooveshark).
Almost all musical recordings are now created by layering multiple tracks - sing the melody, go back and add harmony, etc. This requires simultaneous playback and recording.
Will Windows prevent this original creative activity in hopes of stopping piracy?
Snarky comment 1: I guess Songsmith recordings are only single-track.
Snarky comment 2: No problem - recording studios all run Mac anyway.
Except without safety you don't have any liberties. What's the use of freedom on the Internet when you've had your identity stolen and your computer hacked?
If you have liberty, you can provide your own safety. If someone else provides your safety by taking your liberty, you will never be safe from your guardians. (Or, less cynically, from their failures.)
If I was a Microsoft shareholder, I'd want them to plan and implement improvements to ALL their products so they DON'T have to keep reacting to lost market share and have to do the fire drill/death march dance to catch back up again.
Agreed. Google is good at this - Gmail has been the best web-based email since it launched, and Google seems intent on improving it. Every time I turn around it's faster or has more features, and my storage keeps going up and up.
That's the kind of thing that generates fanatic users who tell their friends to switch. My perception of MS is that they only play catch-up, and generally fail to emulate their competitors well. It doesn't exactly inspire loyalty.
I don't know if Microsoft fears this, but if people get accustomed to using cross-platform applications, it makes the OS they use less important.
Think what it would mean for Windows if most people used Firefox and OpenOffice. Suddenly, 90% of their everyday tasks could be done in Linux with little change to their work habits.
The original meaning of the "Vista Capable" sticker was that the hardware could be UPGRADED to handle every feature of Vista. "Vista Ready" meant that it could handle it (Aero & WDDM) as is, without upgrades.
Really? Wow. Did they include a very clear explanation with that sticker? Because to me, "capable" would naturally mean "able to do something," not "could theoretically be modified to be able to do something."
"This baby is combat-capable, sir! He just needs a couple of decades of growth and a couple years of training first!"
Purchasing DRM'd music means that sooner or later, you'll probably lose access to your songs. You thought you had a deed, but you had a lease, subject to being revoked at any time. When the service goes belly-up or you change players, bye-bye music.
If you're OK with that, fine. But whether it affects you NOW isn't the whole picture. And the long-term prospects are why many of us avoid DRM.
Now, for things like rentals and all-you-can-listen-to streams, where it's understood up front that you can't keep this media, I think it's legitimate. But I ain't buying what I can't keep.
FYI: Less Accounting bills itself as a simpler alternative to Quickbooks for people who hate Quickbooks. I haven't used it, but I would take a look if I were in the market for accounting software.
I couldn't give a flying leap about Comcast's internet service offerings; in fact, they are inferior to other portals such as yahoo, igoogle, and even msn.
Yes. Most of us have maybe two ISPs to choose from; the very lucky may have ten. But every Internet user has access to millions of web pages.
Hmmmm, which competitive market will produce better content?
Non-neutral ISPs will destroy their customers' motivation to use the Internet in the first place.
Whoever invented spell checking should be burned at the stake.
Because it doesn't fit your personal usage pattern? Wow. Strong words.
I agree that it should be easier for you to turn off, and maybe smart enough to work with two languages at once, but come on. Most people consider spell checking an essential feature.
"I'm the rare person who wants to leave my headlights on when I turn off the car! Whoever invented the chiming reminder to turn them off should be drawn and quartered!"
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Almost all musical recordings are now created by layering multiple tracks - sing the melody, go back and add harmony, etc. This requires simultaneous playback and recording.
Will Windows prevent this original creative activity in hopes of stopping piracy?
Snarky comment 1: I guess Songsmith recordings are only single-track.
Snarky comment 2: No problem - recording studios all run Mac anyway.
This is no surprise. After all, everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads.
If you have liberty, you can provide your own safety. If someone else provides your safety by taking your liberty, you will never be safe from your guardians. (Or, less cynically, from their failures.)
Besides, 100% safety doesn't exist.
Haha! Brilliant! This is Windows "The Browser Is My Real OS" Edition.
There is already a limit on how many apps you can run at the same time in Windows - it's called "your system's specs." We don't need another limit.
Q: Why would you pay for an operating system that deliberately keeps your computer from performing at its true potential?
A: You don't know any better.
Q: Why would Microsoft sell you that?
A: Um... to try to force you to buy an upgrade?
I can't think of any GOOD reason...
When I install Ubuntu and try to boot into it, I get a blinking cursor and nothing else.
Is there a Fix It tool for that, or do I have to learn how to compile the kernel or something?
Hey, great! My only two choices for broadband at home.
...how do you track bugs in your bug-tracking software?
Hahahahahaha!!!
Ogg.
Agreed. Google is good at this - Gmail has been the best web-based email since it launched, and Google seems intent on improving it. Every time I turn around it's faster or has more features, and my storage keeps going up and up.
That's the kind of thing that generates fanatic users who tell their friends to switch. My perception of MS is that they only play catch-up, and generally fail to emulate their competitors well. It doesn't exactly inspire loyalty.
I don't know if Microsoft fears this, but if people get accustomed to using cross-platform applications, it makes the OS they use less important.
Think what it would mean for Windows if most people used Firefox and OpenOffice. Suddenly, 90% of their everyday tasks could be done in Linux with little change to their work habits.
Really? Wow. Did they include a very clear explanation with that sticker? Because to me, "capable" would naturally mean "able to do something," not "could theoretically be modified to be able to do something."
"This baby is combat-capable, sir! He just needs a couple of decades of growth and a couple years of training first!"
.
Me neither. I prefer the term "semi-gluteal."
Even better is the Spnife: round enough to hold soup, but sharp enough to slice your mouth.
Purchasing DRM'd music means that sooner or later, you'll probably lose access to your songs. You thought you had a deed, but you had a lease, subject to being revoked at any time. When the service goes belly-up or you change players, bye-bye music.
If you're OK with that, fine. But whether it affects you NOW isn't the whole picture. And the long-term prospects are why many of us avoid DRM.
Now, for things like rentals and all-you-can-listen-to streams, where it's understood up front that you can't keep this media, I think it's legitimate. But I ain't buying what I can't keep.
[Ahem.] He's ripping on him because he's a "huge" PC gamer. Large. Needs some exercise.
"Investment" means "trying to grow your money." Nobody says "I'm investing in an ice cream cone," no matter how much they enjoy it.
There's nothing wrong with spending money on what you enjoy. But let's not corrupt the meaning of words.
OK, it's like you're a car, who works in an ice cream store...
FYI: Less Accounting bills itself as a simpler alternative to Quickbooks for people who hate Quickbooks. I haven't used it, but I would take a look if I were in the market for accounting software.
Yes. Most of us have maybe two ISPs to choose from; the very lucky may have ten. But every Internet user has access to millions of web pages.
Hmmmm, which competitive market will produce better content?
Non-neutral ISPs will destroy their customers' motivation to use the Internet in the first place.
Which is very different from a large society in which some people know everybody else's business.
Even if this stuff is public, the time and money and knowledge necessary to use it will not be evenly distributed.
Because it doesn't fit your personal usage pattern? Wow. Strong words.
I agree that it should be easier for you to turn off, and maybe smart enough to work with two languages at once, but come on. Most people consider spell checking an essential feature.
"I'm the rare person who wants to leave my headlights on when I turn off the car! Whoever invented the chiming reminder to turn them off should be drawn and quartered!"
Thanks for the pat on the back. :)
That's true with nerds too. Why, just the other day, I was Yahooing a javascript method...
See what you did there? "Why, that fool doesn't use Google!" The mainstream - and yet still the coolest - search engine. Because it works the best.
Popularity does not always have a negative feedback loop.
Sounds like you're defining "the religious right" as "any dogmatic, murderous people claiming to be Christians, past or present."
With that definition, I'm against them, too!