I've never lived outside Quebec so I can't realy comment on other countries than Canada.
Quebec is a good mix of the US and Europe. Even compared to the rest of Canada; Quebec's people are alot more open and understanding (less prude). Just for example, we have a humoristic FM radio program in Montreal (among others) that is prime time, from 15h30 to 18h00, and would make Howard Stern look like Cinderella. Seriously; it's been running for like 10 years, they swear, talk about sex with animals, completely humiliate celebrities with great details and people want more! The CRTC (FCC equivalent) let it run because it is encoded in French and it's under the cover of humor.
Granted we do have our share of terorists like Revenue Quebec and others who wants our hard earned money; They also exist elsewhere in the world in most developped countries.
That represent the way I'm feeling.
I own 1500 vinyl records, maybe 450 cds and about 100 DVDs but my purchases have slowed alot during the last few years and not because I'm downloading; because they got me sick with their attitude in general. So I listen to what I already have and buy very few cds and rent movies instead of buying them like I used to do.
The customers in general, have very little power over most big corporations. The only thing the customer can do is punish them by not giving them their money. More and more people are doing that to punish xxAAs and being all knowing and very wise they account those lost revenues on bad pirates using the tubes to rip them of their hard earned money.
Only when they will have sued everybody in America and realized that their bussiness model sucks and is irrelevant will they realise that you can't force feed customers all the time and sometimes you have to listen to what they want...
The Canadian Law is presently somewhat more relax, at present the real mafia comes from royalties organisations trying to collect license fees from everyone, but there are forces at work to screw us like they screwed our south friends a few years back, so it's only a matter of time.
Dumbasses... Count me out
In this disposable market there's also the fact that people are less looking for a company that is going "to be there" in 5-10 years; they don't care.
Their DVD player is going to be long gone by then. For most items, the repair cost almost exeeds the purchase cost of a new unit a few years down the road. People don't invest in their products anymore.
The saying that with this brand you get good aftersale service and with that brand you don't is less true than it was. The gap is closing because many manufacturers trow the defective product in the garbage and give you a new one instead and that; every manufacturer can do. Those details are already settled when they sign a deal with a big retailler.
I can see the MPAA suing over the fact that to know that you're in a movie theatre the phone has to record and analyse the suroundings wich includes the movie soundtrack.
The case is going to look like this in a few years...
Title: MPAA vs every cellphone owner in the world who wathed a movie once during the last year
Alleged facts: Illegal recording of a movie soundtrack
Offered settlement: 1,000$ per offender or 250,000$ if you go to court.
They wont even need to make crappy movies anymore just like the RIAA doesn't need to spit out records; they just need to sue their customers!
I don't really hate her, I just think that other Canadian artists have as much if not more talent than her but don't have her recognition.
For me she is the fruit of marketing, PR and timing more than her own talent. However, the fact that she still exist more than 20 years after singing for the pope denote that her formula works and that she did the rights moves at the right times. Not that many artist enjoy a sucessfull 20 years carreer.
I'm less separatist than I was 15 years ago, I didn't even vote for the Bloc, I try to vote Rhino, Pot or Green depending on the cadidates available but I think the whole province should separate from Céline.
Telcos and Cablecos that own "tha pipes" are becoming more and more useless and irrelevant as we move forward in the 21st century. This is a last ditch effort to prolong their dying bussiness model.
Nobody owns the airs, power to the people... Wireless is the way to go and will beat the crap out of everybody including the cellcos who are, let's not forget, charging quite alot for their "pipes"
Here in Canada it doesn't seem that bad so far as Telcos and Cablecos are plunging in the Voip bandwagon early in the game.
There are many ways to stay relevant in this ever changing world as a bussiness but screwing your customers is not one of them.
This oppinion is partly whishfull thinking but hey... I could happend.
And BTW, the most agressive offer is from Telus. It's at least 10$ less than Vonage. The other players aligned themselves with Vonage @ 39.95$ for the unlimited package. With all the companies we can keep our current home phone number wich is neat.
Quite the oposite from France... Here in Québec, The two major Telcos wich are Bell Canada and Telus and the two major Cablecos wich are Videotron and Cogéco are all offering VOIP as we speak.
Since they are offering the service, I guess they would be very stupid to block it... Talk. about shooting yourself in the foot.
Today, companies are fighting any way they can to remain relevant in today's world. They can do that in two ways; Making the right moves at the right time to stay relevant like for example Koday did in the face of digital photography nearly 10 years ago OR forcing their clients to consider them relevant by screwing them when they don't have a choice (FOR NOW) like the RIAA and the CellCos do.
Sufice to say that this can only last for a given time and people remeber who screwed them...
Slashdot Mirror
I've never lived outside Quebec so I can't realy comment on other countries than Canada.
Quebec is a good mix of the US and Europe. Even compared to the rest of Canada; Quebec's people are alot more open and understanding (less prude). Just for example, we have a humoristic FM radio program in Montreal (among others) that is prime time, from 15h30 to 18h00, and would make Howard Stern look like Cinderella. Seriously; it's been running for like 10 years, they swear, talk about sex with animals, completely humiliate celebrities with great details and people want more! The CRTC (FCC equivalent) let it run because it is encoded in French and it's under the cover of humor.
Granted we do have our share of terorists like Revenue Quebec and others who wants our hard earned money; They also exist elsewhere in the world in most developped countries.
JF
That represent the way I'm feeling. I own 1500 vinyl records, maybe 450 cds and about 100 DVDs but my purchases have slowed alot during the last few years and not because I'm downloading; because they got me sick with their attitude in general. So I listen to what I already have and buy very few cds and rent movies instead of buying them like I used to do. The customers in general, have very little power over most big corporations. The only thing the customer can do is punish them by not giving them their money. More and more people are doing that to punish xxAAs and being all knowing and very wise they account those lost revenues on bad pirates using the tubes to rip them of their hard earned money. Only when they will have sued everybody in America and realized that their bussiness model sucks and is irrelevant will they realise that you can't force feed customers all the time and sometimes you have to listen to what they want... The Canadian Law is presently somewhat more relax, at present the real mafia comes from royalties organisations trying to collect license fees from everyone, but there are forces at work to screw us like they screwed our south friends a few years back, so it's only a matter of time. Dumbasses... Count me out
In this disposable market there's also the fact that people are less looking for a company that is going "to be there" in 5-10 years; they don't care. Their DVD player is going to be long gone by then. For most items, the repair cost almost exeeds the purchase cost of a new unit a few years down the road. People don't invest in their products anymore. The saying that with this brand you get good aftersale service and with that brand you don't is less true than it was. The gap is closing because many manufacturers trow the defective product in the garbage and give you a new one instead and that; every manufacturer can do. Those details are already settled when they sign a deal with a big retailler.
I can see the MPAA suing over the fact that to know that you're in a movie theatre the phone has to record and analyse the suroundings wich includes the movie soundtrack.
The case is going to look like this in a few years...
Title: MPAA vs every cellphone owner in the world who wathed a movie once during the last year
Alleged facts: Illegal recording of a movie soundtrack
Offered settlement: 1,000$ per offender or 250,000$ if you go to court.
They wont even need to make crappy movies anymore just like the RIAA doesn't need to spit out records; they just need to sue their customers!
I don't really hate her, I just think that other Canadian artists have as much if not more talent than her but don't have her recognition. For me she is the fruit of marketing, PR and timing more than her own talent. However, the fact that she still exist more than 20 years after singing for the pope denote that her formula works and that she did the rights moves at the right times. Not that many artist enjoy a sucessfull 20 years carreer.
I'm less separatist than I was 15 years ago, I didn't even vote for the Bloc, I try to vote Rhino, Pot or Green depending on the cadidates available but I think the whole province should separate from Céline.
Telcos and Cablecos that own "tha pipes" are becoming more and more useless and irrelevant as we move forward in the 21st century. This is a last ditch effort to prolong their dying bussiness model. Nobody owns the airs, power to the people... Wireless is the way to go and will beat the crap out of everybody including the cellcos who are, let's not forget, charging quite alot for their "pipes" Here in Canada it doesn't seem that bad so far as Telcos and Cablecos are plunging in the Voip bandwagon early in the game. There are many ways to stay relevant in this ever changing world as a bussiness but screwing your customers is not one of them. This oppinion is partly whishfull thinking but hey... I could happend.
This is blatant exploitation of bacteria ;-) Nobody asked their permission, they have rights you know and if not they should...
You know, someday we're going to come to that crossroad... Then , it may not be bacteria we'll talking about but other lifeforms more dear to us.
And BTW, the most agressive offer is from Telus. It's at least 10$ less than Vonage. The other players aligned themselves with Vonage @ 39.95$ for the unlimited package. With all the companies we can keep our current home phone number wich is neat.
Quite the oposite from France... Here in Québec, The two major Telcos wich are Bell Canada and Telus and the two major Cablecos wich are Videotron and Cogéco are all offering VOIP as we speak.
Since they are offering the service, I guess they would be very stupid to block it... Talk. about shooting yourself in the foot.
Today, companies are fighting any way they can to remain relevant in today's world. They can do that in two ways; Making the right moves at the right time to stay relevant like for example Koday did in the face of digital photography nearly 10 years ago OR forcing their clients to consider them relevant by screwing them when they don't have a choice (FOR NOW) like the RIAA and the CellCos do.
Sufice to say that this can only last for a given time and people remeber who screwed them...