we got all those "little black boxes" in new cars nowadays.. it won't be long before they're gps-enabled and the cops & insurance companies want to tap into them 24/7 so they can harrass anyone doing 56 in a 55.
The way that most (home users especially) buy computers, they already come with a word processor of some sort bundled with all the other crap the OEM (HP, Dell, etc) sticks on the system. It's nearly impossible to buy a major manufacturer's system without all the preloaded junk, and often times you spend the same or more on the stripped down version. (Yes, you can 'roll your own' system, but *MOST* people don't do that, nor do they know how.) So, most home users have either Works or Word Perfect (Mac's have their own), which is more than adequate for virtually all their text document writing needs. Those that don't have something preloaded can install OpenOffice.org or even Abiword for a free word processor.
Big business, with the typical big-business IT strategy has already chosen (most likely) Microsoft Office to standardize on. The few forward-thinking organizations are already using something like OpenOffice.org.
Many business users of Microsoft Office have 'install at home' rights to their business' license of Office, so those folks can use Office at home as well as at work.
With a 500k maximum document size, limited feature set, and all the privacy concerns that go along with using a Google-owned web application -- the only people that can really get some use out of Writely is people with blogs who can post directly one of the six compatible blogging sites (since blogs are typically published to the public, less privacy issues). And still, you're giving Google your login information for the blog (another privacy concern), so I'd think it's only a viable tool for Google's own Blogger.com users (since Google's already got your login information there).
And, not to forget, a web-based app requires web access of a sufficient speed to use -- and not everybody is hooked up to a full-time high speed internet connection. "Little Tommy couldn't hand in his homework because the internet was down" could become the new "My dog ate my homework", and with reliability problems some broadband providers have, there might actually be some truth to the excuse.
The speculation of a Google-box appliance that big business can install on their own LAN, without the privacy concerns of using a Google web-based application sounds like it *could* be a serious contender against Microsoft Office, but it needs to be a complete and integrated solution suite, and even then it will likely be a tough sell. Google's got a lot of work to do before they're ready for that.
I think it's primarily a traffic generating gimmick for Google (until the above business server materializes). People will use it, but not necessarily need the few unique features it has, simply because "it's there" and they've already been hooked into some other Google gimmick or gadget (mail, calendar, talk, etc).
i just noticed the original ruling was in *TEXAS* --- it wasn't in that one particular patent-whore friendly federal court was it? if it was, that definately explains the early tivo win, but now that the case is on appeals (and outside of that court), maybe things will be different (read: right).
aggressive price cuts from AMD must have been too appealing for them to ignore.
it is amd's purchase of ati that finally sealed the deal with dell. amd can now provide their own integrated all-in-one platform just like intel: chipset, integrated video, processor and board design all from the same company. dell only has to deal with one vendor from engineering and board design to processor supply and drivers. amd could not singlehandedly do all of that, like intel can, until now.
the only real winner here might just be directv, if tivo holds out and refuses to license their questionable patent to echostar. without dvr, many of their customers will switch to directv.
i wouldn't even be surprised if directv helped fund tivo's legal battle, considering the mess echostar (directv's only american satellite competitor) is in now. their existance could very well be up in the air now.
enough consumer backlash and negative pr and echostar will be ripe for a takeover again. we are four years removed from the fcc rejection of directv's acquisition of echostar (2002). four more years into this pro big business administration and a new fcc head could spell the end of echostar and satellite competition.
and, if this patent doesn't get invalidated, what happens to all the other devices and software currently in use and/or on the market that allows you to record and watch at the same time?
Songwriters still get paid performance royalties via ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC when someone plays a song they learned off of OLGA.
ONLY if the performer is buying the rights to public performance via sheet music or other arrangements with the publisher. However, I'd hazard a guess that large percentage of people who do perform others' songs learned via free tab sites do not have the legal right to perform that music in public.
for us, lack of time is only part of the equation.
the prospect of paying $60, $70 or more for a *GAME* is a much bigger factor. (you'll see games pushing $100 in the not-too-distant future.) as is the thought of paying once (in the store), and then paying again (subscription) to play. we won't do it, period.
and while we have a couple of ~2.5 ghz systems, we do not have the bleeding edge graphics cards that new games demand (have gf3, r9600, both purchased long after their respective glory days). we cannot justify spending $500 bucks or more every year on hardware just to play the aforementioned overpriced games.
on the console side, how about forking over a $250-500 on a glorified atari vcs and the above prices for the games to play on it?... only to find it's obsolete next year and undeveloped a year or two after that. if a console dies after it's short warranty period, you chuck it and buy a new one, if you want to play the games you've spent a fortune on... at least a pc is universally compatible, user-repairable, upgradable, and has a lot of life left in them when their game playing days are over.
and consider we want to play together? that usually means two of everything, doubling the already too-high prices.
the last consoles we purchased were: an original PONG and a 2600. that old atari, in its day, enjoyed a much longer lifespan than the consoles of today. and yes, we actually fire it up every now and then for a little defender or super breakout. on the pc? it's a little age, freelancer or hldm, played across the lan (combined cost of two copies of each? under $100).
its going on two years since we last bought a computer game. so happens to be about the last time we've purchased any music cd's as well...and we've limited online purchasing of tunes to a mere 50 bucks or so since. back when new cd's were less than ten bucks and video games were $25 or less, we'd purchase several hundred bucks of each, every year. but we refuse to pay the escalating prices any longer.
capitalism and a free market economy is great and all.. but you've got these very few greedy bastards who control it and squeeze every last dime out of the common man; eventually pricing themselves right out of the market. it's happening to music, it will happen to video games too. it may not happen this year, but the backlash will kick into high gear when the price of games hits $100.
handing out 3000 copies of a beta version is nothing. wait until millions of morons are running vista to see how mukked up it can get. as soon as there's a "market" for the crooks, they'll start pumping out the nasties.
Simple way to boycot: if IE --> Download Firefox Link else --> Welcome visitor!
this is pretty much what i do...
a simple ie conditional (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/ov erview/ccomment_ovw.asp if you don't happen to know what they are) that loads up a small firefox banner (resized by 1px to get around dimension-based ad blockers) if the visitor is using ie. nice and simple. no lectures, no scolding.. i do enough of that face-to-face when friends get infested with spyware and/or viruses (.. due in part to their using ie).
the holiday shopping season says it will be available to (at least selected) oem's shortly after thanksgiving (usa). if not, then it doesn't really matter too much, as they missed the back to school season (that earlier versions hit) and the holidays. if they miss december 1, they might as well polish it up the best microsoft is capable of and release mid-2007 instead.
using the industry's method of counting, where *every* download = a "lost sale" (which anyone with common sense knows isn't true); they probably count a downloaded track split between 20 peers (sources) as *20* downloaded files, not one.
... it won't work on NBC. part of why it works so well is that it is based at a third-rate network (WB); a network starving for new programming and willing to do anything for a hit. Replace WB with NBC and half the show's entire premise get's tossed out the window. The only way it will make it on NBC is through premium scheduling -- a tactic NBC has used time and again to put and keep crappy shows on the air.
it's not an actual loss of $250 billion, that figure no doubt represents the POTENTIAL lost revenues if every single downloaded or swapped song, movie and program actually represents a lost sale. Anyone with half a brain (and that excludes virtually all politicians and entertainment industry executives) knows that's a load of crap (the rest of the aforementioned executives knows it's a load of crap but they like the sound of it anyway).
the actual figure is considerably less, perhaps much closer to $250 million, not a quarter trillion. most people realize that what they're downloading is pure crap, and barely worth the effort to aquire for free.. forget about paying regular US retail prices.
20usd for a movie, upwards of 400usd or more for software programs? if push came to shove, people would find cheaper alternatives or go without. if piracy was eliminated somehow "overnight", industry revenues would not jump $250 billion a year automagically. and that's the simple truth.
if the game's been in development for what, 9 ?? years now, what will the graphics and game play be like? is it based on current technology and methods? or those which predate the original half life? for every generation of games and technology that has passed, have they scrapped everything and started over? if so, this could go on forever.
Won't work, they'll tap you at the first hop (the cable company's router) if they have to.
traffic is encrypted out of your box, so while the ISP will know who you're talking to (your entry node), they won't know *what* you're talking about, or what the final destination of the traffic is.
if it were up to the readers to choose a new look, perhaps the winning design wouldn't look so much like the current one?;p
the chosen design looks good to me, however from this reader's pov, it just looks like the winning design was chosen based on how closely it resembles http://slashdot.org/ - and the only reason why the runner up didn't win, is there was no roundy corner in the upper-left.
if the site is still gonna have the same look & feel anyway, what's the bloody point? does slashdot need the publicity on digg or something?
it IS scalping, what happens in areas that outlaw scalping? ticketscamster ends up being the 'scalper' (i.e. selling a ticket for above face value) instead of some broker. so unless they (and promoters, venues, etc) can get away with publishing ticket prices as "????", i predict a wave of new anti-scalping (and 'anti ticketmaster') laws... and the only ones who will really benefit in the near-term will be lawyers and lawmakers (with, of course, ticketscamster cash winning in the end).
Slashdot Mirror
so, does that mean that tivo just invalidated their patents? looks like alien prior art to me. good news for dish dvr customers! ;)
the new spontaneously combustable line of laptops from dell give a whole new meaning to 'smoking in bed'.
what's the motivation here? to keep an eye on what media people have on their pc to share?
if 90% of the population was capable of actually comprehending what's at stake here; they would care.
we got all those "little black boxes" in new cars nowadays.. it won't be long before they're gps-enabled and the cops & insurance companies want to tap into them 24/7 so they can harrass anyone doing 56 in a 55.
The way that most (home users especially) buy computers, they already come with a word processor of some sort bundled with all the other crap the OEM (HP, Dell, etc) sticks on the system. It's nearly impossible to buy a major manufacturer's system without all the preloaded junk, and often times you spend the same or more on the stripped down version. (Yes, you can 'roll your own' system, but *MOST* people don't do that, nor do they know how.) So, most home users have either Works or Word Perfect (Mac's have their own), which is more than adequate for virtually all their text document writing needs. Those that don't have something preloaded can install OpenOffice.org or even Abiword for a free word processor.
Big business, with the typical big-business IT strategy has already chosen (most likely) Microsoft Office to standardize on. The few forward-thinking organizations are already using something like OpenOffice.org.
Many business users of Microsoft Office have 'install at home' rights to their business' license of Office, so those folks can use Office at home as well as at work.
With a 500k maximum document size, limited feature set, and all the privacy concerns that go along with using a Google-owned web application -- the only people that can really get some use out of Writely is people with blogs who can post directly one of the six compatible blogging sites (since blogs are typically published to the public, less privacy issues). And still, you're giving Google your login information for the blog (another privacy concern), so I'd think it's only a viable tool for Google's own Blogger.com users (since Google's already got your login information there).
And, not to forget, a web-based app requires web access of a sufficient speed to use -- and not everybody is hooked up to a full-time high speed internet connection. "Little Tommy couldn't hand in his homework because the internet was down" could become the new "My dog ate my homework", and with reliability problems some broadband providers have, there might actually be some truth to the excuse.
The speculation of a Google-box appliance that big business can install on their own LAN, without the privacy concerns of using a Google web-based application sounds like it *could* be a serious contender against Microsoft Office, but it needs to be a complete and integrated solution suite, and even then it will likely be a tough sell. Google's got a lot of work to do before they're ready for that.
I think it's primarily a traffic generating gimmick for Google (until the above business server materializes). People will use it, but not necessarily need the few unique features it has, simply because "it's there" and they've already been hooked into some other Google gimmick or gadget (mail, calendar, talk, etc).
yea!
i just noticed the original ruling was in *TEXAS* --- it wasn't in that one particular patent-whore friendly federal court was it? if it was, that definately explains the early tivo win, but now that the case is on appeals (and outside of that court), maybe things will be different (read: right).
it is amd's purchase of ati that finally sealed the deal with dell. amd can now provide their own integrated all-in-one platform just like intel: chipset, integrated video, processor and board design all from the same company. dell only has to deal with one vendor from engineering and board design to processor supply and drivers. amd could not singlehandedly do all of that, like intel can, until now.
the only real winner here might just be directv, if tivo holds out and refuses to license their questionable patent to echostar. without dvr, many of their customers will switch to directv.
i wouldn't even be surprised if directv helped fund tivo's legal battle, considering the mess echostar (directv's only american satellite competitor) is in now. their existance could very well be up in the air now.
enough consumer backlash and negative pr and echostar will be ripe for a takeover again. we are four years removed from the fcc rejection of directv's acquisition of echostar (2002). four more years into this pro big business administration and a new fcc head could spell the end of echostar and satellite competition.
and, if this patent doesn't get invalidated, what happens to all the other devices and software currently in use and/or on the market that allows you to record and watch at the same time?
ONLY if the performer is buying the rights to public performance via sheet music or other arrangements with the publisher. However, I'd hazard a guess that large percentage of people who do perform others' songs learned via free tab sites do not have the legal right to perform that music in public.
for us, lack of time is only part of the equation.
the prospect of paying $60, $70 or more for a *GAME* is a much bigger factor. (you'll see games pushing $100 in the not-too-distant future.) as is the thought of paying once (in the store), and then paying again (subscription) to play. we won't do it, period.
and while we have a couple of ~2.5 ghz systems, we do not have the bleeding edge graphics cards that new games demand (have gf3, r9600, both purchased long after their respective glory days). we cannot justify spending $500 bucks or more every year on hardware just to play the aforementioned overpriced games.
on the console side, how about forking over a $250-500 on a glorified atari vcs and the above prices for the games to play on it?... only to find it's obsolete next year and undeveloped a year or two after that. if a console dies after it's short warranty period, you chuck it and buy a new one, if you want to play the games you've spent a fortune on... at least a pc is universally compatible, user-repairable, upgradable, and has a lot of life left in them when their game playing days are over.
and consider we want to play together? that usually means two of everything, doubling the already too-high prices.
the last consoles we purchased were: an original PONG and a 2600. that old atari, in its day, enjoyed a much longer lifespan than the consoles of today. and yes, we actually fire it up every now and then for a little defender or super breakout. on the pc? it's a little age, freelancer or hldm, played across the lan (combined cost of two copies of each? under $100).
its going on two years since we last bought a computer game. so happens to be about the last time we've purchased any music cd's as well...and we've limited online purchasing of tunes to a mere 50 bucks or so since. back when new cd's were less than ten bucks and video games were $25 or less, we'd purchase several hundred bucks of each, every year. but we refuse to pay the escalating prices any longer.
capitalism and a free market economy is great and all.. but you've got these very few greedy bastards who control it and squeeze every last dime out of the common man; eventually pricing themselves right out of the market. it's happening to music, it will happen to video games too. it may not happen this year, but the backlash will kick into high gear when the price of games hits $100.
handing out 3000 copies of a beta version is nothing. wait until millions of morons are running vista to see how mukked up it can get. as soon as there's a "market" for the crooks, they'll start pumping out the nasties.
this is pretty much what i do...
a simple ie conditional (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/o
No, the majority of the population is too stupid to know what's best for them.
the holiday shopping season says it will be available to (at least selected) oem's shortly after thanksgiving (usa). if not, then it doesn't really matter too much, as they missed the back to school season (that earlier versions hit) and the holidays. if they miss december 1, they might as well polish it up the best microsoft is capable of and release mid-2007 instead.
(command line) tool to block ie7 delivery via automatic updates and 'express' windowsupdate:
http://tinyurl.com/kwkgt (link target is microsoft)
on the local machine it looks like a simple registry edit:
Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0
Key value name: DoNotAllowIE70
Value = 0
ie7 is NOT blocked
Value = 1
ie7 is blocked from installing via above methods
using the industry's method of counting, where *every* download = a "lost sale" (which anyone with common sense knows isn't true); they probably count a downloaded track split between 20 peers (sources) as *20* downloaded files, not one.
... it won't work on NBC. part of why it works so well is that it is based at a third-rate network (WB); a network starving for new programming and willing to do anything for a hit. Replace WB with NBC and half the show's entire premise get's tossed out the window. The only way it will make it on NBC is through premium scheduling -- a tactic NBC has used time and again to put and keep crappy shows on the air.
it's not an actual loss of $250 billion, that figure no doubt represents the POTENTIAL lost revenues if every single downloaded or swapped song, movie and program actually represents a lost sale. Anyone with half a brain (and that excludes virtually all politicians and entertainment industry executives) knows that's a load of crap (the rest of the aforementioned executives knows it's a load of crap but they like the sound of it anyway).
the actual figure is considerably less, perhaps much closer to $250 million, not a quarter trillion. most people realize that what they're downloading is pure crap, and barely worth the effort to aquire for free.. forget about paying regular US retail prices.
20usd for a movie, upwards of 400usd or more for software programs? if push came to shove, people would find cheaper alternatives or go without. if piracy was eliminated somehow "overnight", industry revenues would not jump $250 billion a year automagically. and that's the simple truth.
if the game's been in development for what, 9 ?? years now, what will the graphics and game play be like? is it based on current technology and methods? or those which predate the original half life? for every generation of games and technology that has passed, have they scrapped everything and started over? if so, this could go on forever.
traffic is encrypted out of your box, so while the ISP will know who you're talking to (your entry node), they won't know *what* you're talking about, or what the final destination of the traffic is.
nice company there, hoarding the name instead of donating it to the project.
slashdot didn't ask you to decide
;p
if it were up to the readers to choose a new look, perhaps the winning design wouldn't look so much like the current one?
the chosen design looks good to me, however from this reader's pov, it just looks like the winning design was chosen based on how closely it resembles http://slashdot.org/ - and the only reason why the runner up didn't win, is there was no roundy corner in the upper-left.
if the site is still gonna have the same look & feel anyway, what's the bloody point? does slashdot need the publicity on digg or something?
and look who's address space it's in:
it IS scalping, what happens in areas that outlaw scalping? ticketscamster ends up being the 'scalper' (i.e. selling a ticket for above face value) instead of some broker. so unless they (and promoters, venues, etc) can get away with publishing ticket prices as "????", i predict a wave of new anti-scalping (and 'anti ticketmaster') laws... and the only ones who will really benefit in the near-term will be lawyers and lawmakers (with, of course, ticketscamster cash winning in the end).