The RIAA's problem with streaming of this case is that some of their members' words and potentially "copyrighted content" will be copied to the interwebs without compensation, resulting in a loss of $4.37811 billion because they presume that those who download recordings of the hearings and case would otherwise purchase it on CD -- plus there is the fact that what would be downloaded is a raw and uncut version rather than the heavily cut-and-processed studio version. The court proceedings would be no different from typical concert bootlegs recorded right off the sound board; no artistic control and goofs might make it through.;)
Good job, lawmakers. As we all know, the best way out of an economic recession or depression is to increase and create new taxes. After all, the fastest way to economic recovery is to increase the tax burden on citizens!
No kidding, but on top of that there is a plethora of GUI front ends for the package managers, which make it easier to install software than a Mac or Windows. The closest mainstream equivalent I can think of is the iPhone - just search or browse for the kind of application you want, select it, and click install. It's that easy. Sometimes you will have to resolve dependencies but with more recent package managers it's generally "to install $zag you also need $foo and $bar. Is this okay?"
You know, it's amazing that expecting people to learn to use a package manager is asking too much, especially when those same people have no problem figuring out how to install and use P2P software to download "pirated" copies of Photoshop, Microsoft Office, etc.
If they can manage to learn how to download and install "pirated" software, then I don't think it's too much to expect them to learn how to run a package manager - which when equipped with a GUI is quite honestly even easier to use than a Mac.
Circuit City only went out of business because most consumers already realized Best Buy, Walmart and the Internet offered the same crappy products for less money.
I corrected your typo.;) Worst Buy and Sprawl*Mart are where one goes to get deals on new DVDs and CDs, and maybe a crappy second TV for the kitchen or bedroom, not to buy a quality system.
Bah. Circuit City sucked for everything except their DVD selection and buying a keyboard or mouse in a pinch. Their TV prices were nothing to write home about (Micro Center is a better choice) and their home audio selection ranged from crappy low-end to lower-mid-range components (similar to Worst Buy's selection).
The chain I DO miss is Tweeter, who did carry some low-end stuff to draw people in but focused on the mid-range to high-end components.
When I upgrade my stereo equipment (on average every 6-7 years I guess) I tend to go high end. I really like Pioneer Elite but always check out Yamaha's and Onkyo's higher-end stuff. It's also wonderful to be able to hear speakers in a sound room in a store where they'll let you try your own source music, in a controlled environment, and even let you buy them on a trial basis (because as you know room construction has a bearing on how individual speakers will sound - what sounds great in the store might sound lousy at home).
They include pornographic "films"[sic] in that figure so what does that amount to? How many, er, "adult films" can a single film maker produce in a single day? 5? 10? 15?
What if the movies were burned to DVDs and encased in Volkswagons? Or, how many Libraries of Congress would these movies comprise? THOSE are analogies we at/. can comprehend.;)
44 1.5TB seagate discs+ 2 RAID controllers + 2 5U enclosures. It is not as expensive as you might think. Not exactly cheap, but it's well under $30K, and that is assuming you go with enterprise-level chassis. If you go with hasbro-level no-name chassis or drive cases, you can bring the costs down significantly -- or, you could even run the drives in open air using only angle iron or aluminum as a mount.
However, you CAN bypass DRM for the purpose of interoperability. Want to watch media on Boxee? You now fall under the requirements for the clause which allows defeating/bypassing the DRM.
Honestly, if there is any additional advertising on Hulu it is so unobtrusive that I've never used it. I don't run adblockers (although some news sites are so obnoxious I should install one) because I recognize that advertising revenue is what pays for "free" content. If the advertising revenue disappears, eventually so will the content.
However, given the situation where the ads are embedded in the streams, it's foolish to block Boxee. All Boxee does is drive more viewers to the content.
It's still a retarded move though; hulu and similar services have been drawing people away from "pirated"[sic] content and back to revenue-generating content, and now that it is hitting critical mass the content owners are shooting themselves in the foot. The folks at Hulu seem caught in the middle. Who are the losers? Both consumers and Hulu.
What content producers, software producers, and so forth are STILL failing to realize is that they are making the "pirated"[sic]/counterfeit product MORE valuable than the real thing because the "pirated"[sic] content is invariably not crippled by DRM.
I am SO glad that our leaders are dealing with the important issues. I mean, it's not like we have a shitty economy or horrible foreign relations to worry about lately.
So, that's why astrologists were cheering this morning!;) Or, maybe Mercury is in retrograde resulting in an error of judgement by Illinois politicians? I mean, it's not like we have a shitty economy or anything important to worry about at this point in time.
I may not be a lawyer but unlike people who have to resort to "shut the fuck up" due to their illiteracy, I can read, and have read trademark law.
One of the requirements of maintaining a trademark is to actively use it; you cannot just register a trademark and squat on it. One more requirement others mentioned is that one must aggressively defend the trademark as soon as any infringement is perceived. Psion failed on both counts: they list their Netbook line only under discontinued products (that they may be selling new old stock out of a van at a flea market is immaterial - they are no longer promoting the product) and they waited until more companies used the term before using it - not speaking up immediately as trademark law requires them to. The onus was on Psion to keep it active and they dropped the ball.
Or, to put it in terms that the above Anonymous Coward will understand: psion haz epic fail.
Thank you for the car analogy - no/. discussion is complete without a car analogy to make the situation crystal-clear. Thank you, KeX3 for your insight - I read this entire thread and was puzzled until your post cleared things up.
One thing though; how many Volkswagons' worth of money have the RIAA/MPAA/equivalents allegedly 'lost' due to 'illegal file sharing?';)
Seriously though, I used to spend insane amounts of money on CDs every week. Now I purchase _maybe_ one or two a year. for about five years I bought ZERO - my reason is I decided to not be an RIAA customer so their payola-fed radio stations don't get my time, VH1 and MTV2 don't get my time, and so forth. Talk radio is a more constructive use of my time anyhow.
They may have registered "netBook" years ago but the only "netBook" product they list is in their discontinued product page. One of the requirements for maintaining a trademark is to actively use it.
Their focus seems to be vehicle-mounted computers, appropriate for police and delivery vehicles, and their handheld units are appropriate for managing stores (inventory control) and delivery personnel, not the target market for netbooks.
They abandoned it, and let it fall into common use, becoming a genericized trademark. I would buy a "netbook" like an Aspire One or eee PC, but I would not buy a "NETBOOK PRO" from Psion even if it were to be brought back into production.
You can however invest in more efficient heaters. I installed a vent-free natural gas heater and heat all winter to date cost me under $200, keeping my apartment at 75*F and some days warmer. Last year I kept the temp under 60*F much of the time and heat cost me over $1,500 using oil.
If I was the customer, I'd say "fuck you" and refuse to pay.
You could do that, and the worst they can do is turn off your service and put a nasty comment in your credit report, but the stink of it is that mark your credit report will follow you for seven years, and you'll be unlikely to get service from one of the other providers without ponying up for AT&T's gaff.
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The RIAA's problem with streaming of this case is that some of their members' words and potentially "copyrighted content" will be copied to the interwebs without compensation, resulting in a loss of $4.37811 billion because they presume that those who download recordings of the hearings and case would otherwise purchase it on CD -- plus there is the fact that what would be downloaded is a raw and uncut version rather than the heavily cut-and-processed studio version. The court proceedings would be no different from typical concert bootlegs recorded right off the sound board; no artistic control and goofs might make it through. ;)
Good job, lawmakers. As we all know, the best way out of an economic recession or depression is to increase and create new taxes. After all, the fastest way to economic recovery is to increase the tax burden on citizens!
No kidding, but on top of that there is a plethora of GUI front ends for the package managers, which make it easier to install software than a Mac or Windows. The closest mainstream equivalent I can think of is the iPhone - just search or browse for the kind of application you want, select it, and click install. It's that easy. Sometimes you will have to resolve dependencies but with more recent package managers it's generally "to install $zag you also need $foo and $bar. Is this okay?"
You know, it's amazing that expecting people to learn to use a package manager is asking too much, especially when those same people have no problem figuring out how to install and use P2P software to download "pirated" copies of Photoshop, Microsoft Office, etc.
If they can manage to learn how to download and install "pirated" software, then I don't think it's too much to expect them to learn how to run a package manager - which when equipped with a GUI is quite honestly even easier to use than a Mac.
I corrected your typo. ;) Worst Buy and Sprawl*Mart are where one goes to get deals on new DVDs and CDs, and maybe a crappy second TV for the kitchen or bedroom, not to buy a quality system.
Bah. Circuit City sucked for everything except their DVD selection and buying a keyboard or mouse in a pinch. Their TV prices were nothing to write home about (Micro Center is a better choice) and their home audio selection ranged from crappy low-end to lower-mid-range components (similar to Worst Buy's selection).
The chain I DO miss is Tweeter, who did carry some low-end stuff to draw people in but focused on the mid-range to high-end components.
When I upgrade my stereo equipment (on average every 6-7 years I guess) I tend to go high end. I really like Pioneer Elite but always check out Yamaha's and Onkyo's higher-end stuff. It's also wonderful to be able to hear speakers in a sound room in a store where they'll let you try your own source music, in a controlled environment, and even let you buy them on a trial basis (because as you know room construction has a bearing on how individual speakers will sound - what sounds great in the store might sound lousy at home).
They include pornographic "films"[sic] in that figure so what does that amount to? How many, er, "adult films" can a single film maker produce in a single day? 5? 10? 15?
What if the movies were burned to DVDs and encased in Volkswagons? Or, how many Libraries of Congress would these movies comprise? THOSE are analogies we at /. can comprehend. ;)
44 1.5TB seagate discs+ 2 RAID controllers + 2 5U enclosures. It is not as expensive as you might think. Not exactly cheap, but it's well under $30K, and that is assuming you go with enterprise-level chassis. If you go with hasbro-level no-name chassis or drive cases, you can bring the costs down significantly -- or, you could even run the drives in open air using only angle iron or aluminum as a mount.
However, you CAN bypass DRM for the purpose of interoperability. Want to watch media on Boxee? You now fall under the requirements for the clause which allows defeating/bypassing the DRM.
Honestly, if there is any additional advertising on Hulu it is so unobtrusive that I've never used it. I don't run adblockers (although some news sites are so obnoxious I should install one) because I recognize that advertising revenue is what pays for "free" content. If the advertising revenue disappears, eventually so will the content.
However, given the situation where the ads are embedded in the streams, it's foolish to block Boxee. All Boxee does is drive more viewers to the content.
It's still a retarded move though; hulu and similar services have been drawing people away from "pirated"[sic] content and back to revenue-generating content, and now that it is hitting critical mass the content owners are shooting themselves in the foot. The folks at Hulu seem caught in the middle. Who are the losers? Both consumers and Hulu.
What content producers, software producers, and so forth are STILL failing to realize is that they are making the "pirated"[sic]/counterfeit product MORE valuable than the real thing because the "pirated"[sic] content is invariably not crippled by DRM.
Hey that is just as effective as running Norton Internet Security/Norton AntiVirus ;)
Whoosh!
Read 1984 sometime.
I am SO glad that our leaders are dealing with the important issues. I mean, it's not like we have a shitty economy or horrible foreign relations to worry about lately.
So, that's why astrologists were cheering this morning! ;) Or, maybe Mercury is in retrograde resulting in an error of judgement by Illinois politicians? I mean, it's not like we have a shitty economy or anything important to worry about at this point in time.
Or more likely, he has ruined her for men so she shows up in wfw. Er, not that I ever view that section. Uh, I think I will take the fifth now.
I'd like to see Microsoft stop selling its product to the EU as well - then Linux will gain more support. :)
I may not be a lawyer but unlike people who have to resort to "shut the fuck up" due to their illiteracy, I can read, and have read trademark law.
One of the requirements of maintaining a trademark is to actively use it; you cannot just register a trademark and squat on it. One more requirement others mentioned is that one must aggressively defend the trademark as soon as any infringement is perceived. Psion failed on both counts: they list their Netbook line only under discontinued products (that they may be selling new old stock out of a van at a flea market is immaterial - they are no longer promoting the product) and they waited until more companies used the term before using it - not speaking up immediately as trademark law requires them to. The onus was on Psion to keep it active and they dropped the ball.
Or, to put it in terms that the above Anonymous Coward will understand: psion haz epic fail.
Thank you for the car analogy - no /. discussion is complete without a car analogy to make the situation crystal-clear. Thank you, KeX3 for your insight - I read this entire thread and was puzzled until your post cleared things up.
One thing though; how many Volkswagons' worth of money have the RIAA/MPAA/equivalents allegedly 'lost' due to 'illegal file sharing?' ;)
Seriously though, I used to spend insane amounts of money on CDs every week. Now I purchase _maybe_ one or two a year. for about five years I bought ZERO - my reason is I decided to not be an RIAA customer so their payola-fed radio stations don't get my time, VH1 and MTV2 don't get my time, and so forth. Talk radio is a more constructive use of my time anyhow.
They may have registered "netBook" years ago but the only "netBook" product they list is in their discontinued product page. One of the requirements for maintaining a trademark is to actively use it.
Their focus seems to be vehicle-mounted computers, appropriate for police and delivery vehicles, and their handheld units are appropriate for managing stores (inventory control) and delivery personnel, not the target market for netbooks.
They abandoned it, and let it fall into common use, becoming a genericized trademark. I would buy a "netbook" like an Aspire One or eee PC, but I would not buy a "NETBOOK PRO" from Psion even if it were to be brought back into production.
You can however invest in more efficient heaters. I installed a vent-free natural gas heater and heat all winter to date cost me under $200, keeping my apartment at 75*F and some days warmer. Last year I kept the temp under 60*F much of the time and heat cost me over $1,500 using oil.
You could do that, and the worst they can do is turn off your service and put a nasty comment in your credit report, but the stink of it is that mark your credit report will follow you for seven years, and you'll be unlikely to get service from one of the other providers without ponying up for AT&T's gaff.
*LOL*
"Can't sleep, must stay up to compile kernel."
I've been there. :)
Now they're finally admitting the real reason for the bandwidth caps: they do not want to lose their cable TV monopolies.