A boycott says "I don't like what you're doing." A lawsuit says "I think what you're doing is (or should be) illegal." It's a much stronger - and more public - statement.
Personally, I wouldn't get involved this one. But I hope they win. DRM on purchased products are anti-consumer.
The future will be "Songs are our promotion, and concerts are where the real money's at."
So there's no future for reclusive musicians who make brilliant recordings? What about recordings of symphonies who are too large to tour? What about bands who appeal to niche audiences and only have 30 fans in any major city, making touring unprofitable? And there's no future for movies, which exist only as digital artifacts?
No, The Future will only accept Touring Road Show Bands. All other content producers will be cast aside. Hooray for The Future!
Personally, I'd prefer a future where people who like listening to recordings voluntarily support the making of those recordings. But maybe I'm stuck in the past.
That may be true for some things (Skype support, for example) but the hardware omissions cannot be addressed by hardware.
True. Which is why, in my opinion, the hardware criticism is valid here, but the software criticism, unless it's about a fundamental OS flaw, is mostly useless.
My list of requirements if I were about to buy an Android phone would all be hardware ones: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, USB connector, enough speed and storage space, etc. Beyond that, I'd expect that applications would fill in any gaps in functionality. Heck, to my understanding, someone could even re-write the address book app if they wanted to.
The iPhone was originally AT&T only, but it's available from several providers now. I'm guessing by this time next year the Android phone will be available from everybody.
The iPhone was locked in via an exclusivity deal. Android has no such lock - T-Mobile just got out the first release.
It's rumored that Sprint will have an Android phone soon. They're part of the Open Handset Alliance, anyway.
AT&T and Verizon could get on board, but so far I think they're waiting to see whether all this "openness" makes money or not.
And while its music player will be able to use MP3, Windows Media and AAC files, you'll need to wait for a third-party to provide some sort of add-on to sync your iTunes library to the phone.
Or you can write your own app to do that, which is the whole selling point of this phone.
If this phone/OS lives up to the hype, all these kinds of comments that we normally make about phones will become irrelevant. You don't complain that your new computer can't open a certain doctype; you just get the right software to do that. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the walled-garden era on cell phones.
If you can think of an algorithm to determine if all the parts of a bill are related to each other, I'd like to see it. I'm fairly certain that the problem is undecidable.
You make an excellent point. It would be very hard to define "unrelated" in a clear way, and many things would be up for argument.
I suppose that citizen oversight is the only solution. It seems to me that getting "single issue bills" is something that everyone should favor, because it makes it clearer who is voting for what. As things now stand, a representative can vote for a bill, then later say "oh, I didn't mean to support paragraph 35, I just liked paragraph 12." Who knows if that's true?
I think that an advocacy group that monitors bills could identify unrelated clauses via common sense, but whether enough people care, and whether their objections would be heard, is another matter.
[Sighs.] The fact that this isn't simple makes me depressed about government.
I don't think this is the same thing. It's impossible to find a one-issue candidate, so it's probably impossible to find a candidate I agree with 100%.
It's NOT impossible to write a bill which only does one thing, and it makes no sense to cram 50 unrelated bills into one and present it as "all or nothing."
"Raising the defense spending" and "allocating money for a corn museum in Iowa" and "funding preschool programs" should not be on the same bill. They should be considered separately. And congresscritters should demand that.
But I think they mostly prefer to scratch each other's backs.
Yes. This would be a perfect cause to start an organization around.
1) Design open source voting hardware / software. 2) Have lots of people try to poke holes in the ideas. 3) Improve them. 4) Build prototypes. 5) Hold a contest for people to try to hack them. Offer prize money. Make videos of the attempts. Put them online. (At this step you're also pointing out the anti-democratic failures of the current designs.) 6) Repeat until you've got an all-but-unhackable design. 7) Take all that evidence and the plans to the government. Use the above videos and the support of the EFF, the ACLU, etc to lobby for these plans to be the official spec. 8) Require any company that builds them to submit them to further public testing.
I have about one drink every two weeks, so most days I'm one of those people. When I get up in the morning, that's the worst I feel all day, because I'm tired. But it's not bad.
I feel sorry for people who drink enough each night to feel bad in the morning, because they're clearly unhappy overall and self-medicating.
That's possible, but the site has been in beta for a while, and bored people have been trying to manipulate it already. They've put a lot of mechanisms in place to encourage good behavior, and hopefully community monitoring will continue to stop this.
What you're saying should be pretty easy to detect, right? Like, these 10 people all post crappy answers and vote each other's crappy answers up? Those users could be penalized, and meanwhile, if the answers are truly crappy, other people can be voting them down or even deleting them.
I think the most interesting thing about StackOverFlow is the reputation system. The more good questions and answer you create, the more power you get. From the FAQ:
Here's how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted up by your peers. If you post something that's off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down. Each up vote adds 10 reputation points; each down vote removes 2. Amass enough reputation points and Stack Overflow will allow you to do more things on the site, beyond simply asking and answering questions, such as:
15 - Vote up
15 - Flag offensive
50 - Leave comments
100 - Vote down
250 - Close your questions (no longer accept answers)
500 - Retag other people's questions
750 - Edit community wiki posts
2000 - Edit other people's posts
2000 - Delete comments
3000 - Close other people's questions
At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don't run Stack Overflow. The community does.
For the moment I expect the site to have details of the latest and greatest, but only because it is a new site. If it lasts a few years, it will be full of the same stale information as other sites.
Nope. You didn't RTFA. It has Wikipedia-like editing of questions and answers. If you get enough reputation in the site, you can edit and update things as needed.
"Hey kids - remember when you used to download N'Sync off Napster? Back in 2001? When that first iPod came out with the black text screen, and Napster was synonymous with 'free' and 'rebellious?'
Good news! Napster is still cool! It's, like, 'phat' and stuff! And now we own it! So it's not free or rebellious anymore. But come on back and give us some money!"
Probably. I wonder if they would know, though? Are they allowed to listen to your conversation to see whether you're talking or transmitting a handshake? (I'd guess yes, but I don't know.) And if there were few enough geeks doing this, would they bother checking?
Basically I like any idea that pushes the carriers towards being dumb pipes competing on price and connection quality alone.
Slashdot Mirror
One most people don't use the camera on their phone is because carriers make it nearly impossible to get the pictures off the phone without paying.
Customers want features and ease of use. Carriers want revenue streams.
Guess which one determines the phone's capabilities?
Yep - and as long as the stuff doesn't come installed, with its tentacles in everything, it could even come on the hard drive.
If you don't check the box to install it, it gets deleted at the end of the setup process. If you do, it doesn't need to be downloaded.
A boycott says "I don't like what you're doing." A lawsuit says "I think what you're doing is (or should be) illegal." It's a much stronger - and more public - statement.
Personally, I wouldn't get involved this one. But I hope they win. DRM on purchased products are anti-consumer.
So there's no future for reclusive musicians who make brilliant recordings? What about recordings of symphonies who are too large to tour? What about bands who appeal to niche audiences and only have 30 fans in any major city, making touring unprofitable? And there's no future for movies, which exist only as digital artifacts?
No, The Future will only accept Touring Road Show Bands. All other content producers will be cast aside. Hooray for The Future!
Personally, I'd prefer a future where people who like listening to recordings voluntarily support the making of those recordings . But maybe I'm stuck in the past.
True. Which is why, in my opinion, the hardware criticism is valid here, but the software criticism, unless it's about a fundamental OS flaw, is mostly useless.
My list of requirements if I were about to buy an Android phone would all be hardware ones: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, USB connector, enough speed and storage space, etc. Beyond that, I'd expect that applications would fill in any gaps in functionality. Heck, to my understanding, someone could even re-write the address book app if they wanted to.
The iPhone was locked in via an exclusivity deal. Android has no such lock - T-Mobile just got out the first release.
It's rumored that Sprint will have an Android phone soon. They're part of the Open Handset Alliance, anyway.
AT&T and Verizon could get on board, but so far I think they're waiting to see whether all this "openness" makes money or not.
Unless you get third-party software, which is the whole selling point of this phone. How about this?
Android QuickOffice
Or you can write your own app to do that, which is the whole selling point of this phone.
If this phone/OS lives up to the hype, all these kinds of comments that we normally make about phones will become irrelevant. You don't complain that your new computer can't open a certain doctype; you just get the right software to do that. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the walled-garden era on cell phones.
Aw yeah, super-expensive, tiny, scientific soccer.
Let's see the Iraqi team beat us in that.
Hmmmm. Maybe this is because they've crammed all kinds of interactive content into a Portable Document Format?
I mean seriously. I thought the idea of PDFs was "this is as simple as a printed copy, and looks the same."
You make an excellent point. It would be very hard to define "unrelated" in a clear way, and many things would be up for argument.
I suppose that citizen oversight is the only solution. It seems to me that getting "single issue bills" is something that everyone should favor, because it makes it clearer who is voting for what. As things now stand, a representative can vote for a bill, then later say "oh, I didn't mean to support paragraph 35, I just liked paragraph 12." Who knows if that's true?
I think that an advocacy group that monitors bills could identify unrelated clauses via common sense, but whether enough people care, and whether their objections would be heard, is another matter.
[Sighs.] The fact that this isn't simple makes me depressed about government.
I don't think this is the same thing. It's impossible to find a one-issue candidate, so it's probably impossible to find a candidate I agree with 100%.
It's NOT impossible to write a bill which only does one thing, and it makes no sense to cram 50 unrelated bills into one and present it as "all or nothing."
"Raising the defense spending" and "allocating money for a corn museum in Iowa" and "funding preschool programs" should not be on the same bill. They should be considered separately. And congresscritters should demand that.
But I think they mostly prefer to scratch each other's backs.
WENNNNNDY'S!!!!! ...Ah crap I'm doing it wrong.
Yes. This would be a perfect cause to start an organization around.
1) Design open source voting hardware / software.
2) Have lots of people try to poke holes in the ideas.
3) Improve them.
4) Build prototypes.
5) Hold a contest for people to try to hack them. Offer prize money. Make videos of the attempts. Put them online. (At this step you're also pointing out the anti-democratic failures of the current designs.)
6) Repeat until you've got an all-but-unhackable design.
7) Take all that evidence and the plans to the government. Use the above videos and the support of the EFF, the ACLU, etc to lobby for these plans to be the official spec.
8) Require any company that builds them to submit them to further public testing.
You, sir, have won the Retroactive Middle School Dork award. I bow to you in respect.
Oh yeah? When I was in 7th grade, I created a "crossbow" out of a paper clip and rubber band that could fling paper wads clear across the room! ...Eh?
I have about one drink every two weeks, so most days I'm one of those people. When I get up in the morning, that's the worst I feel all day, because I'm tired. But it's not bad.
I feel sorry for people who drink enough each night to feel bad in the morning, because they're clearly unhappy overall and self-medicating.
That's possible, but the site has been in beta for a while, and bored people have been trying to manipulate it already. They've put a lot of mechanisms in place to encourage good behavior, and hopefully community monitoring will continue to stop this.
What you're saying should be pretty easy to detect, right? Like, these 10 people all post crappy answers and vote each other's crappy answers up? Those users could be penalized, and meanwhile, if the answers are truly crappy, other people can be voting them down or even deleting them.
I think the most interesting thing about StackOverFlow is the reputation system. The more good questions and answer you create, the more power you get. From the FAQ:
Nope. You didn't RTFA. It has Wikipedia-like editing of questions and answers. If you get enough reputation in the site, you can edit and update things as needed.
This site is a joint venture with Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror.
Cognitive radios!?? Oh no you don't! (Starts adding layers to tin foil hat.)
LOL - totally right.
"Hey kids - remember when you used to download N'Sync off Napster? Back in 2001? When that first iPod came out with the black text screen, and Napster was synonymous with 'free' and 'rebellious?'
Good news! Napster is still cool! It's, like, 'phat' and stuff! And now we own it! So it's not free or rebellious anymore. But come on back and give us some money!"
THAT's what I was trying to remember. :)
If a company can truly do this, I bet it's been done before. (Waiting for examples.)
Probably. I wonder if they would know, though? Are they allowed to listen to your conversation to see whether you're talking or transmitting a handshake? (I'd guess yes, but I don't know.) And if there were few enough geeks doing this, would they bother checking?
Basically I like any idea that pushes the carriers towards being dumb pipes competing on price and connection quality alone.