As far as I can remember everyone (on both sides) has claimed that this one will be different. That it will either be the greatest windows release ever...
But this time it will be different! This time, the new OS will be completely ready for Web Two Point Oh(TM)! The new version of Windows, after Vista, will be Windows Two Point--
...we may well see vista as a cut down but free product, with Microsoft's revenue coming from on-line productivity services.
I can see it now: "Oh, you want to right-click? That's a $15 add-on feature. Can I interest you in a bundle that includes right-click, scroll bars, the Start button, and Excel for $150?... I'm sorry; the Start button is only available with the Excel productivity bundle."
I for myself still think global warming could be nice, after the initial, inevitable adaptation pains. More crops, more habitable lands.
So all that land that is not currently arable is magically going to become able to support crops? You don't think maybe there's more currently preventing that than just annual temperature variations?
Looking at northern Canada, for example, all of the land that has cultivatable soil is already cultivated. Even if we were to slash and burn the northern boreal forest, nothing would grow in that mix of peat and muskeg... except maybe specially-bred rice, but there was no world shortage of that, last time I checked.
Come to think of it, there was no world shortage of food in general last time I checked. Just how would having more arable land benefit the world, even if it could happen? It still wouldn't put food in the hands of those who need it.
It wasn't long ago there was an article here about a 20GB flash drive being $750-$1000. If an entire laptop containing one is now estimated at around $400, these things will be cheap quite soon.
"And are they going to edit all the people out? I don't see how they could." Why couldn't they? It's amazing the things they can do with computers these days, you know...
They won't edit them out completely; they'll just replace them with better-looking people. How else are they going to compete with GE?
Hmm... the summary says that the foundation will spend all of its money within 50 years of Bill and Melinda dying. The headline says the foundation will spend all of its money within 50 years.
Does someone know something that Bill and Melinda don't?
Old people just want their computers to work... Shit, when I get home I just want my computer to work.
I've reached that point too. I left a job in IT to go back to school because I was completely fed up with dealing with a dozen things a day that could spontaneously go wrong with a PC. After I get out of school, my first major purchase will be to replace this generic box on my desk with a Mac because I just want the damn thing to work!
I was just thinking about a similar situation. Two years ago, I replaced my computer, and gave my old one to my grandma (85). Even after I set it up here, we went through several months of phone calls, attempted remote sessions, my semi-computer-literate uncles and mainly-computer-literate mother trying to fix things... All that was needed was to hook the thing up to her ISP, which I thought I had configured before I shipped the thing. Finally, my mom hired a tech she knows to reconfigure the thing from scratch--including reinstalling the OS, which had somehow become corrupted with all of the "fixing".
It's worked since then, but I can't help think that if I had gotten her a Mac, it would have saved us endless headaches--and been cheaper in the long run.
I just read farther and saw that Morris' threat is to stop selling music through iTMS. I still think Jobs' best course of action would be to call this obvious bluff.
What? RTFA? You're new here, aren't you? Yeah, you; I can hear you thinking.;)
Sounds like a great basis for a class action law suit. Calling all users of portable music players thieves...
And who's going to lead the lawsuit?
Actually, Apple should lead it. After all...
"These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it..."
That sounds more like he's defaming Apple than he's defaming iPod owners, although that comment leaves plenty of room for both. And, of course, Apple makes a pretty stupid target for this kind of statement, having developed the most successful legal music download service there is. (I'm putting iTMS ahead of eMusic, AllofMP3 and the like because iTMS successfully charges more per song, has better selection (than eMusic), and is of unquestioned legality (compared to AllofMP3).)
Or maybe, instead of a lawsuit, Apple should just reconsider whether they want iTMS to sell music released by a record company that defames them and their customers. How much does Universal make from iTMS, I wonder?
Do I believe that natural selection should be taught in school? YES I DO!!! It is a proven fact.
No, it's not. It's a theory that happens to fit the facts better than any other. If the Flying Spaghetti Monster lands tomorrow and starts handing out samples of the Primordial Pasta, current theories will be modified or discarded.
The aliens only give the government new technology when they need them to fight their wars on Mars for them. Why do you think the Mars probes keep breaking? They keep getting too close to the Li'Gum-Tri'Bel front, so the government wipes them out with their Star Wars satellites. You thought the war satellites were for Russians? No! The aliens stopped giving technology to the Russians when they refused to fight for them. That's why the Cold War ended. So the government gives the alien technology to the corporations when they get something better, and we get iPods and laptops when they've got TeraPods and ThumbTops. If we could get onto the alien mothership, which is hiding behind our other moon--you didn't know we had one because the aliens have a cloaking device on it--we could defeat the aliens with cold germs and get all of their technology and use it to create World Peace, save the oceans and rainforests, and fit all the music that has ever been written on an UltraPod. And we wouldn't have to worry about the RIAA because it's pretty obvious they're all aliens, especially Lars Ulrich. Lars... Mars... coincidence? I don't think so! He's their main general in their fight against the Tri'Bels!
Wake up and smell the coffee!* They're going to get us if we don't get them! To donate to my project to infiltrate the alien mothership, send your $1000 donation to Alien Mothership Fight, c/o Restful Pines Hospital, Psychiatric Care Ward, Erehwon, MO. I'm not crazy. The aliens are keeping me in here. But I'll show them when I blast off and cough in their mothership!
*But not Starbucks coffee. Yep, aliens. Why else would they call a small coffee a "Tall"? It's because the aliens are so small that a small coffee looks big to them!
...any extension of copyright should include clauses that stipulate that the copyright reverts to the artists, their heirs and successors after a period of time...
I'm curious how this works (or doesn't) with current laws. A couple of days ago there was a discussion here (too lazy to find the link) about the Jackson-Lord of the Rings-Hobbit situation. New Line Cinema wants to make a movie before the right to do so reverts to the previous steward (no, not Denethor).
Does this not happen with music simply because record company reps are shrewd business people and artists aren't? Or is there a difference of law between movies and music? Or between different countries? Or does one have anything to do with the other?
Go see your mother... have a look through her CD/DVD/sewing pattern collection (which she has depends on age of your mother), pick one you like and ask "can I have a copy of this?" I absolutely guarentee she will say "yes."
The thing about absolute guarantees is that they're absolutely guaranteed not to apply universally. I'm sure my mom wouldn't tell me to go ahead and copy her DVDs or CDs. When she was in charge of a small Canadian university (she just retired), she dealt with copyright crap every day, policing the departments, making sure they didn't exceed their Access Copyright restrictions--not that she agreed with them on principle, but there was significant legal liability if a teacher started handing out photocopies of (*ahem* grossly overpriced) textbooks.
If she doesn't, it's probably because you never visit her.
Nag, nag, nag... okay, I'll make the 2000 mile trip next summer.
I'm not really all that knowledgable on how the model release forms work, but do all countries have them?
From my post:
And if these sites are outside of a jurisdiction that requires model release forms, I'm sure the Canadian "tubes" can benefit from having some bandwidth freed up from the lack of some sleazy sites.
If a country doesn't police its porn, block their porn sites. The less porn flying around the Canadian backbone, the more bandwidth there will be for everything else.
Before you start saying what a dangerous trend this would be, there is a parallel: You can't import many types of physical goods into many countries unless those goods meet certain standards. CE and CSA standards spring to mind. If porn suppliers can't verify that they're not exploiting underage models, perhaps they should not be able to export their product to countries that care about that sort of thing.
Note that I'm not advocating blocking all sites from a country that doesn't require model verification. If two out of a hundred porn suppliers in West Elbonia conform to "CanPorn"(1) standards, then two West Elbonian porn sites will be visible in Canada.
...who gets to decide what is standard vs hate speech, what is pornographic, what girls/boys appear underage? The same companies that block a disagreeable union webpage[?]
...a blacklist...provided by Cybertip.ca, the Canadian tip-line against child exploitation.
So, no, it won't be Telus. Or Shaw, or Rogers, etc. Cybertip.ca has a pretty well-focused mission, so they're only likely to block sites that (maybe) can't produce standard model release forms (including proof of age) that all legitimate adult-oriented content providers have to have (ever since the Traci Lords scandal years ago). And if these sites are outside of a jurisdiction that requires model release forms, I'm sure the Canadian "tubes" can benefit from having some bandwidth freed up from the lack of some sleazy sites.
This is just speculation, of course. I don't know how Cybertip.ca decides who to blacklist, but lack of model releases would be a good place to start.
Slashdot Mirror
How about we only turn it off at night?
Homer: 30 seconds? But I want it now!
But this time it will be different! This time, the new OS will be completely ready for Web Two Point Oh(TM)! The new version of Windows, after Vista, will be Windows Two Point--
Oh. Um. Yeah. Ok, forget I mentioned it.
I can see it now: "Oh, you want to right-click? That's a $15 add-on feature. Can I interest you in a bundle that includes right-click, scroll bars, the Start button, and Excel for $150?... I'm sorry; the Start button is only available with the Excel productivity bundle."
So all that land that is not currently arable is magically going to become able to support crops? You don't think maybe there's more currently preventing that than just annual temperature variations?
Looking at northern Canada, for example, all of the land that has cultivatable soil is already cultivated. Even if we were to slash and burn the northern boreal forest, nothing would grow in that mix of peat and muskeg... except maybe specially-bred rice, but there was no world shortage of that, last time I checked.
Come to think of it, there was no world shortage of food in general last time I checked. Just how would having more arable land benefit the world, even if it could happen? It still wouldn't put food in the hands of those who need it.
It wasn't long ago there was an article here about a 20GB flash drive being $750-$1000. If an entire laptop containing one is now estimated at around $400, these things will be cheap quite soon.
They won't edit them out completely; they'll just replace them with better-looking people. How else are they going to compete with GE?
"Dear Mom... delete that."
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Hmm... the summary says that the foundation will spend all of its money within 50 years of Bill and Melinda dying. The headline says the foundation will spend all of its money within 50 years.
Does someone know something that Bill and Melinda don't?
I've reached that point too. I left a job in IT to go back to school because I was completely fed up with dealing with a dozen things a day that could spontaneously go wrong with a PC. After I get out of school, my first major purchase will be to replace this generic box on my desk with a Mac because I just want the damn thing to work!
Like Alienware cases, neon tubes, liquid cooling, 16 extra case fans, and all of those other mods that are so popular with the over-60 crowd.
I was just thinking about a similar situation. Two years ago, I replaced my computer, and gave my old one to my grandma (85). Even after I set it up here, we went through several months of phone calls, attempted remote sessions, my semi-computer-literate uncles and mainly-computer-literate mother trying to fix things... All that was needed was to hook the thing up to her ISP, which I thought I had configured before I shipped the thing. Finally, my mom hired a tech she knows to reconfigure the thing from scratch--including reinstalling the OS, which had somehow become corrupted with all of the "fixing".
It's worked since then, but I can't help think that if I had gotten her a Mac, it would have saved us endless headaches--and been cheaper in the long run.
I just read farther and saw that Morris' threat is to stop selling music through iTMS. I still think Jobs' best course of action would be to call this obvious bluff.
What? RTFA? You're new here, aren't you? Yeah, you; I can hear you thinking. ;)
And who's going to lead the lawsuit?
Actually, Apple should lead it. After all...
That sounds more like he's defaming Apple than he's defaming iPod owners, although that comment leaves plenty of room for both. And, of course, Apple makes a pretty stupid target for this kind of statement, having developed the most successful legal music download service there is. (I'm putting iTMS ahead of eMusic, AllofMP3 and the like because iTMS successfully charges more per song, has better selection (than eMusic), and is of unquestioned legality (compared to AllofMP3).)
Or maybe, instead of a lawsuit, Apple should just reconsider whether they want iTMS to sell music released by a record company that defames them and their customers. How much does Universal make from iTMS, I wonder?
No, it's not. It's a theory that happens to fit the facts better than any other. If the Flying Spaghetti Monster lands tomorrow and starts handing out samples of the Primordial Pasta, current theories will be modified or discarded.
You mean in addition to the Catholics on other worlds?
Yes, I know what you mean, but the placement of your modifier says something else.
You're wrong, man; it's a conspiracy!
The aliens only give the government new technology when they need them to fight their wars on Mars for them. Why do you think the Mars probes keep breaking? They keep getting too close to the Li'Gum-Tri'Bel front, so the government wipes them out with their Star Wars satellites. You thought the war satellites were for Russians? No! The aliens stopped giving technology to the Russians when they refused to fight for them. That's why the Cold War ended. So the government gives the alien technology to the corporations when they get something better, and we get iPods and laptops when they've got TeraPods and ThumbTops. If we could get onto the alien mothership, which is hiding behind our other moon--you didn't know we had one because the aliens have a cloaking device on it--we could defeat the aliens with cold germs and get all of their technology and use it to create World Peace, save the oceans and rainforests, and fit all the music that has ever been written on an UltraPod. And we wouldn't have to worry about the RIAA because it's pretty obvious they're all aliens, especially Lars Ulrich. Lars... Mars... coincidence? I don't think so! He's their main general in their fight against the Tri'Bels!
Wake up and smell the coffee!* They're going to get us if we don't get them! To donate to my project to infiltrate the alien mothership, send your $1000 donation to Alien Mothership Fight, c/o Restful Pines Hospital, Psychiatric Care Ward, Erehwon, MO. I'm not crazy. The aliens are keeping me in here. But I'll show them when I blast off and cough in their mothership!
*But not Starbucks coffee. Yep, aliens. Why else would they call a small coffee a "Tall"? It's because the aliens are so small that a small coffee looks big to them!
Twenty-four people spent a year on the Vista shutdown menu?
If that sucker doesn't have dancing girls that pop out, give me a lap dance, and serve me beer every time I shut it down, I'm gonna be disappointed.
Very informative, thanks.
I'm curious how this works (or doesn't) with current laws. A couple of days ago there was a discussion here (too lazy to find the link) about the Jackson-Lord of the Rings-Hobbit situation. New Line Cinema wants to make a movie before the right to do so reverts to the previous steward (no, not Denethor).
Does this not happen with music simply because record company reps are shrewd business people and artists aren't? Or is there a difference of law between movies and music? Or between different countries? Or does one have anything to do with the other?
The part of that quote that gets me is...
So 50 years is sudden? What is Neil McCormack, a glacier or something?
Oh great, now I've got "Decomposing Composers" by Monty Python stuck in my head.
I'd hum a few bars, but the Copyright Cops would take me away.
Lyrics here if anyone is interested.
The thing about absolute guarantees is that they're absolutely guaranteed not to apply universally. I'm sure my mom wouldn't tell me to go ahead and copy her DVDs or CDs. When she was in charge of a small Canadian university (she just retired), she dealt with copyright crap every day, policing the departments, making sure they didn't exceed their Access Copyright restrictions--not that she agreed with them on principle, but there was significant legal liability if a teacher started handing out photocopies of (*ahem* grossly overpriced) textbooks.
Nag, nag, nag... okay, I'll make the 2000 mile trip next summer.
From my post:
If a country doesn't police its porn, block their porn sites. The less porn flying around the Canadian backbone, the more bandwidth there will be for everything else.
Before you start saying what a dangerous trend this would be, there is a parallel: You can't import many types of physical goods into many countries unless those goods meet certain standards. CE and CSA standards spring to mind. If porn suppliers can't verify that they're not exploiting underage models, perhaps they should not be able to export their product to countries that care about that sort of thing.
Note that I'm not advocating blocking all sites from a country that doesn't require model verification. If two out of a hundred porn suppliers in West Elbonia conform to "CanPorn"(1) standards, then two West Elbonian porn sites will be visible in Canada.
(1) Not a real organization
So, no, it won't be Telus. Or Shaw, or Rogers, etc. Cybertip.ca has a pretty well-focused mission, so they're only likely to block sites that (maybe) can't produce standard model release forms (including proof of age) that all legitimate adult-oriented content providers have to have (ever since the Traci Lords scandal years ago). And if these sites are outside of a jurisdiction that requires model release forms, I'm sure the Canadian "tubes" can benefit from having some bandwidth freed up from the lack of some sleazy sites.
This is just speculation, of course. I don't know how Cybertip.ca decides who to blacklist, but lack of model releases would be a good place to start.