I think Microsoft will end up announcing that Vista will be free for non-commercial use.
They wont release the source code but Windows will end up being free. They spread enough FUD that it wouldn't be hard to to convince a lot of people that free=open source. But better than open source because you don't have to set-up complex compilers and development environments you just need the binaries (yes i know but its FUD remember). Better because it stops someone inserting malicious code into the source.. the usual FUD.
They sell Windows to schools so cheap just to stop Linux getting much of a foothold anyway that giving it away wont make that much difference. They'll still charge for Vista Ultimate/Pro/Uber-bloat or whatever its called but tie it in with online services.. for a small monthly fee. Vista for free and get Office/their gaming gaming thing/online media services for $15 per month.
and you certainly can't blame Microsoft if their OEMs pre-load spyware on the machines
Why the hell not? As somebody else pointed out, MS was able to force OEMs not to install Netscape and other media players. Its in MS's best interests to stop OEMs adding crapware to PCs as it harms their image. They could easily force this by threatening to stop advantageous pricing for OEMs that do install bad software. I realise that most OEMs & system builders operate on very small margins to any extra money they get from adding the crapware is income but installing the crap hurts their image as well as Microsoft's.
It wouldn't be hard for MS to start a 'crapware free' programme like all the Vista Ready stuff they seem to do. It might get lost among all the dozens of other stickers that get plastered all over PCs these days but as more and more people are victims of identity theft & other security issues they will begin to look for these kinds of things.. or try other operating systems that are perceived to be safer.
The only way to semi-accurately calculate their losses is to look at their declining profits year to year, which I would consider a real value partially accountable to piracy.
That method might be more accurate but doesn't take into account a lot of factors that can affect the results. Maybe the movies produced this year aren't as good as those from previous years (most people would agree). Prices of DVDs seem to be lower than in previous years. People also seem to be favouring other forms of entertainment (reality tv, online gaming, social networks). With the time between cinema release, dvd release and broadcast via satellite/cable dropping recently and the massive rise in home cinema popularity, maybe people are preferring to wait to watch movies when its broadcast to their homes. Maybe people are just getting sick of all the remakes & sequels lately. I'm sure there are a lot of other valid reasons for a drop in revenue.
What it all means is their business model is dead and they need to adjust it before Apple, Amazon and others become the new middle-man.
They're trying to change their business model to one where you pay per view. Thats why they're not interested in downloadable movies. If its downloaded theres a chance you can re-watch it for free. If you stream it from them, they can charge you every time you press play. Obviously the internet cant support this level of streaming so they're just sitting and waiting for now and trying to sabotage any alternatives that appear.
Personally I don't care who the middle-man is so long as I can buy a digital album for around $10. Are you listening, entertainment-industry L.A. fat cats? Some of you are getting it, but not very many of you are.
They might do that one day, but they'll only allow you to listen to it x number of times. After that you'll have to pay again.
I'd bet its partly that but more typical FUD. If they fix it too quickly it'll prove its true so they'll wait 3 months then sneak the fix into some bundle of other updates.
We have SafeSurf types of plugins for FireFox and various toolbars like the one from NetCraft that warn you about fake/dangerous sites, we even have things like AVG8 with its mildly annoying symbols next to URLs that popup windows when you hover. Isn't it about time somebody created a Bullshit-o-meter site & plugins?? When you google something, it should say how full of crap the website is. I realise that full-o-crapness is a personal thing that depends greatly on your point of view, but if it sticks to proven verifiable facts it is possible. Unlike Microsoft's attempts to do this which seem to be purely political and things like StumbleUpon that just seems to be another social popularity contest for people with no real-like the internet really needs some kind of truthiness metric... (and a lot of lawyers i guess).
I'm constantly amazed at peoples threshold for tolerating pain as long as they're told it won't hurt =)
So you're saying Microsoft is like the nurse who lies and says him/her taking some blood wont hurt, right before stabbing you with a massive needle and deliberately scraping the needle against the bone for 5 minutes only to tell you they couldn't find a vein and needs to try the other arm. You make some comment but ultimately you need a blood test to find out if the pound of flesh you had to give up to buy your 5Ghz Core4 PC with 24gig of ram barely able to run Vista has resulted in an infection of some kind.
I think that the big problem is that Microsoft is calling this new operating system "Windows".
Yeah, Windows sounds too easily breakable. They should call it something like MS Bricks.
Re:Frustrating, but not really...
on
NXP RFID Cracked
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Don't worry, NXP sells a new improved RFID chip with better encryption. I'm sure they'll make lots more money as a result of this as all these places using the older chips rush to upgrade.
I guess making the encryption barely good enough is a nice way to ensure you get future orders. Their customers can upgrade for a moderate fee or spend a hell of a lot more to go elsewhere.
The pirate still could be sued under these terms, and legal users are in effect being charged twice.
Thats what I thought at first, the RIAA would be penalizing people who aren't pirates.
but... from the article..
a controversial plan to bundle a monthly fee into consumers' internet-service bills for unlimited access to music. Warner's plan would have consumers pay an additional fee--maybe $5 a month--bundled into their monthly internet-access bill in exchange for the right to freely download, upload, copy, and share music without restrictions.
It seems like in exchange for this monthly fee you get access to legal downloads. The idea is hopefully to try to use advertising to pay for it, giving users the option to pay a fee for non-ad music.
I'm sure it'll be low quality mp3s but its a start.
The fee is going to be variable depending on where you live (so Brits will end up paying the US rate * 3 or something).
It seems like Microsoft can get much higher revenue from a several-hundred-dollars major upgrade than a pick-n-choose bundle of features. The only way I see them breaking it apart is if their monopoly really does begin to be challenged and they have to start selling in a truly competitive market.
I dont think its about selling the add-ons for hundreds of dollars. I honestly think the basic Windows will eventually be free but by then it'll just be stripped down to the basic OS & browser. They wont sell the add-ons, they'll license them to people for a monthly fee. As the mess they made with Vista shows... if the OS doesn't sell they make less money and the hardware vendors make less money.
By giving away Core Windows with every new PC they get around the MS Tax on buying computers by charging you more later. Then you can upgrade as much as you wish...
Multimedia upgrade for $10 per month DirectX upgrade for $15 per month Office upgrade for $30 per month (or $7 per app per month)
Microsoft wants a continuous revenue stream from its users. They want you to keep giving them money whether you upgrade or not. They wont care if you insist on running your 4 years out of date OS as you'll still be paying your MS Rent. All the software will be auto-installed, auto-patched, auto-scanned and made nice and safe. They'll get people to upgrade to newer versions by charging more for older OSes which encourages them to upgrade their hardware (so the system feels less sluggish).
Its all leading to TPM/NGSCB machines riddled with DRM-locked hardware. Only 'approved' software will run (cue the protection from malware excuse) and any attempts to bypass security or normal operating functions will be reported. Future Windows versions will check all the files on your PC to make sure its safe, deleting anything they decide is bad for you.
1 week later Windows Update will begin a constant update process that never ends. It will continue to consume all resources and hardware added to all nearby hardware until it achieves critical mass. These individual Windows 'Mersenne' installations will because of gravity begin to drift towards each other, merging into one giant super-bloat. This will become the next version of windows nicknamed 'Neutron'. This will slowly begin to assimilate all matter on Earth followed by the rest of the solar system (except Mercury... Steve 'Sweaty' Ballmer needs somewhere Hell-like to vacation) and then the Orion Arm. The final version of Windows will be a super-massive black hole know as Singularity. Unfortunately Singularity will never get past beta status as anyone attempting to use it's UI (known as Hawking Radiation) will be sucked in. Around this time, the EU will finally get around to fining Microsoft $11 billion for monopoly violations and destroying the planet and its competition.
Linux will continue to exist and evolve into a single particle of anti-matter floating through space until it crashes into Vger.
Moore's Law works in favor of Ray-Tracing, because it assures us that computers will get faster - much faster - while monitor resolutions will grow at a much slower pace.
Inverse Moore's Law states that the more time that developers spend on making games look 'pretty', the less time they spend on playability.
Drug dealers dont make enough money forcing them to supplement their income by pirating CDs? Maybe they are winning the war on drugs. The cheaper prices must be a garage sale like Toshiba is doing with HDDVD.
The virtual particles created are a matching pair (particle & antiparticle) spontaneously created from nothing (a temporary quantum violation of the classical law of conservation of energy) that last for very short time periods before being annihilated. From our perspective (outside the black hole) the particle that escapes black hole is energy from nothing and the particle that is swallowed is negative energy. It doesn't matter if the particle or antiparticle is the one swallowed by the black hole, it still ends up being negative energy. I don't fully understand the last part myself (even after watching that lecture about 6 times) but then IANAP.
You might be right but the way I understood it, the two particles annihilate each other before its possible to detect them. They can be proven to exist by the way they interact with other particles (changing energy levels of hydrogen atoms & with the Casimir Effect) but detecting virtual particles directly violates the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
Hawking radiation is to do with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the creation of virtual particles (pairs like Quarks/Antiquarks, Electrons/Positrons, Neutrino/Antineutrino, Proton/Antiproton etc) that only exist for a negligible amount of time and they're impossible to detect directly. Usually they annihilate each other but if a pair is created near the event horizon, its possible that one part of the pair gets swallowed by the black hole and the other escapes. As multiple particles do this, they interact creating energy, photons & annihilate each other to create a thermal distribution of energies known as Hawking Radiation.
I saw part of The Teaching Company course covering this yesterday on Understanding The Universe.
Slashdot Mirror
I think Microsoft will end up announcing that Vista will be free for non-commercial use.
They wont release the source code but Windows will end up being free. They spread enough FUD that it wouldn't be hard to to convince a lot of people that free=open source. But better than open source because you don't have to set-up complex compilers and development environments you just need the binaries (yes i know but its FUD remember). Better because it stops someone inserting malicious code into the source.. the usual FUD.
They sell Windows to schools so cheap just to stop Linux getting much of a foothold anyway that giving it away wont make that much difference. They'll still charge for Vista Ultimate/Pro/Uber-bloat or whatever its called but tie it in with online services.. for a small monthly fee. Vista for free and get Office/their gaming gaming thing/online media services for $15 per month.
and you certainly can't blame Microsoft if their OEMs pre-load spyware on the machines
Why the hell not? As somebody else pointed out, MS was able to force OEMs not to install Netscape and other media players. Its in MS's best interests to stop OEMs adding crapware to PCs as it harms their image. They could easily force this by threatening to stop advantageous pricing for OEMs that do install bad software. I realise that most OEMs & system builders operate on very small margins to any extra money they get from adding the crapware is income but installing the crap hurts their image as well as Microsoft's.
It wouldn't be hard for MS to start a 'crapware free' programme like all the Vista Ready stuff they seem to do. It might get lost among all the dozens of other stickers that get plastered all over PCs these days but as more and more people are victims of identity theft & other security issues they will begin to look for these kinds of things.. or try other operating systems that are perceived to be safer.
No but theres an optional BBQ add-on. http://news.blogonexpo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/r2bbq.bmp
The only way to semi-accurately calculate their losses is to look at their declining profits year to year, which I would consider a real value partially accountable to piracy.
That method might be more accurate but doesn't take into account a lot of factors that can affect the results. Maybe the movies produced this year aren't as good as those from previous years (most people would agree). Prices of DVDs seem to be lower than in previous years. People also seem to be favouring other forms of entertainment (reality tv, online gaming, social networks). With the time between cinema release, dvd release and broadcast via satellite/cable dropping recently and the massive rise in home cinema popularity, maybe people are preferring to wait to watch movies when its broadcast to their homes. Maybe people are just getting sick of all the remakes & sequels lately. I'm sure there are a lot of other valid reasons for a drop in revenue.
What it all means is their business model is dead and they need to adjust it before Apple, Amazon and others become the new middle-man.
They're trying to change their business model to one where you pay per view. Thats why they're not interested in downloadable movies. If its downloaded theres a chance you can re-watch it for free. If you stream it from them, they can charge you every time you press play. Obviously the internet cant support this level of streaming so they're just sitting and waiting for now and trying to sabotage any alternatives that appear.
Personally I don't care who the middle-man is so long as I can buy a digital album for around $10. Are you listening, entertainment-industry L.A. fat cats? Some of you are getting it, but not very many of you are.
They might do that one day, but they'll only allow you to listen to it x number of times. After that you'll have to pay again.
I'd bet its partly that but more typical FUD. If they fix it too quickly it'll prove its true so they'll wait 3 months then sneak the fix into some bundle of other updates.
We have SafeSurf types of plugins for FireFox and various toolbars like the one from NetCraft that warn you about fake/dangerous sites, we even have things like AVG8 with its mildly annoying symbols next to URLs that popup windows when you hover. Isn't it about time somebody created a Bullshit-o-meter site & plugins?? When you google something, it should say how full of crap the website is. I realise that full-o-crapness is a personal thing that depends greatly on your point of view, but if it sticks to proven verifiable facts it is possible. Unlike Microsoft's attempts to do this which seem to be purely political and things like StumbleUpon that just seems to be another social popularity contest for people with no real-like the internet really needs some kind of truthiness metric... (and a lot of lawyers i guess).
I'm constantly amazed at peoples threshold for tolerating pain as long as they're told it won't hurt =)
So you're saying Microsoft is like the nurse who lies and says him/her taking some blood wont hurt, right before stabbing you with a massive needle and deliberately scraping the needle against the bone for 5 minutes only to tell you they couldn't find a vein and needs to try the other arm. You make some comment but ultimately you need a blood test to find out if the pound of flesh you had to give up to buy your 5Ghz Core4 PC with 24gig of ram barely able to run Vista has resulted in an infection of some kind.
Considering they cant write Vista drivers that don't crash, how safe is it to do complex physics stuff and trust the results?
I think that the big problem is that Microsoft is calling this new operating system "Windows".
Yeah, Windows sounds too easily breakable. They should call it something like MS Bricks.
Don't worry, NXP sells a new improved RFID chip with better encryption. I'm sure they'll make lots more money as a result of this as all these places using the older chips rush to upgrade.
I guess making the encryption barely good enough is a nice way to ensure you get future orders. Their customers can upgrade for a moderate fee or spend a hell of a lot more to go elsewhere.
The pirate still could be sued under these terms, and legal users are in effect being charged twice.
Thats what I thought at first, the RIAA would be penalizing people who aren't pirates.
but... from the article..
a controversial plan to bundle a monthly fee into consumers' internet-service bills for unlimited access to music.
Warner's plan would have consumers pay an additional fee--maybe $5 a month--bundled into their monthly internet-access bill in exchange for the right to freely download, upload, copy, and share music without restrictions.
It seems like in exchange for this monthly fee you get access to legal downloads. The idea is hopefully to try to use advertising to pay for it, giving users the option to pay a fee for non-ad music.
I'm sure it'll be low quality mp3s but its a start.
The fee is going to be variable depending on where you live (so Brits will end up paying the US rate * 3 or something).
I painted all 6 sides the same colour on mine.
Except Chuck Norris.. his beard would deflect it.
It seems like Microsoft can get much higher revenue from a several-hundred-dollars major upgrade than a pick-n-choose bundle of features. The only way I see them breaking it apart is if their monopoly really does begin to be challenged and they have to start selling in a truly competitive market.
I dont think its about selling the add-ons for hundreds of dollars. I honestly think the basic Windows will eventually be free but by then it'll just be stripped down to the basic OS & browser. They wont sell the add-ons, they'll license them to people for a monthly fee. As the mess they made with Vista shows... if the OS doesn't sell they make less money and the hardware vendors make less money.
By giving away Core Windows with every new PC they get around the MS Tax on buying computers by charging you more later. Then you can upgrade as much as you wish...
Multimedia upgrade for $10 per month
DirectX upgrade for $15 per month
Office upgrade for $30 per month (or $7 per app per month)
Microsoft wants a continuous revenue stream from its users. They want you to keep giving them money whether you upgrade or not. They wont care if you insist on running your 4 years out of date OS as you'll still be paying your MS Rent. All the software will be auto-installed, auto-patched, auto-scanned and made nice and safe. They'll get people to upgrade to newer versions by charging more for older OSes which encourages them to upgrade their hardware (so the system feels less sluggish).
Its all leading to TPM/NGSCB machines riddled with DRM-locked hardware. Only 'approved' software will run (cue the protection from malware excuse) and any attempts to bypass security or normal operating functions will be reported. Future Windows versions will check all the files on your PC to make sure its safe, deleting anything they decide is bad for you.
ISPs sell different broadband packages, why not have a media package?
normal price +$5 for music downloads
maybe +$20 for tv & movies?
Its definitely a step in the right direction.
Windows 13, 14, 15, 16 & 17 in Q3 2012...
By Q1 2014 Windows will be on version 791.
1 week later Windows Update will begin a constant update process that never ends.
It will continue to consume all resources and hardware added to all nearby hardware until it achieves critical mass.
These individual Windows 'Mersenne' installations will because of gravity begin to drift towards each other, merging
into one giant super-bloat. This will become the next version of windows nicknamed 'Neutron'. This will slowly begin
to assimilate all matter on Earth followed by the rest of the solar system (except Mercury... Steve 'Sweaty' Ballmer needs
somewhere Hell-like to vacation) and then the Orion Arm. The final version of Windows will be a super-massive black hole
know as Singularity. Unfortunately Singularity will never get past beta status as anyone attempting to use it's UI (known
as Hawking Radiation) will be sucked in. Around this time, the EU will finally get around to fining Microsoft $11 billion
for monopoly violations and destroying the planet and its competition.
Linux will continue to exist and evolve into a single particle of anti-matter floating through space until it crashes into Vger.
In fact, if I were a thumb drive manufacturer then I would simply distribute TrueCrypt with my thumb drives and be done with it.
Corsair already does on some of their drives (like the Flash Voyager 32Gb)
Moore's Law works in favor of Ray-Tracing, because it assures us that computers will get faster - much faster - while monitor resolutions will grow at a much slower pace.
Inverse Moore's Law states that the more time that developers spend on making games look 'pretty', the less time they spend on playability.
SETI@home data comes from the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico not the VLA
Not just overclocking, the latest drivers support SLI too.
http://www.bugimus.com/stealth/b2_refuel02.jpg
It uses Opterons not Phenoms
Drug dealers dont make enough money forcing them to supplement their income by pirating CDs? Maybe they are winning the war on drugs. The cheaper prices must be a garage sale like Toshiba is doing with HDDVD.
If either Bush or Cheney were impeached, arrested and locked up I bet the other would pardon him right before he left office.
The virtual particles created are a matching pair (particle & antiparticle) spontaneously created from nothing (a temporary quantum violation of the classical law of conservation of energy) that last for very short time periods before being annihilated. From our perspective (outside the black hole) the particle that escapes black hole is energy from nothing and the particle that is swallowed is negative energy. It doesn't matter if the particle or antiparticle is the one swallowed by the black hole, it still ends up being negative energy. I don't fully understand the last part myself (even after watching that lecture about 6 times) but then IANAP.
You might be right but the way I understood it, the two particles annihilate each other before its possible to detect them. They can be proven to exist by the way they interact with other particles (changing energy levels of hydrogen atoms & with the Casimir Effect) but detecting virtual particles directly violates the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
Hawking radiation is to do with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the creation of virtual particles (pairs like Quarks/Antiquarks, Electrons/Positrons, Neutrino/Antineutrino, Proton/Antiproton etc) that only exist for a negligible amount of time and they're impossible to detect directly. Usually they annihilate each other but if a pair is created near the event horizon, its possible that one part of the pair gets swallowed by the black hole and the other escapes. As multiple particles do this, they interact creating energy, photons & annihilate each other to create a thermal distribution of energies known as Hawking Radiation.
I saw part of The Teaching Company course covering this yesterday on Understanding The Universe.