Yes, allowing people to disagree with current church policy is "illogical and inconsistent". It would never be considered "democratic" or anything like that.
Oh, and good job being an atheist. Too bad I don't give a shit.
Also, OS X. I'm not a huge Apple fan, but Tiger only requires a G3, firewire, DVD, and 256 megs of ram (plus 3GB hd space). And while dashboard or whatever might not be super quick on that old iMac DV, the reqs are pretty reasonable.
I'm waiting for the final EULA, which will probably say stuff like "you agree to not block LicenseChecker.exe through the use of firewalls or other measures". Heck, they'll probably label firewalling a circumvention measure, leaving the door open for some nice DMCA lawsuits.
As I read your post, one thought filled my mind: something is incredibly wrong. We are worrying about formats, backwards compatability, and whether or not we have a setup that will please the DRM gods. What for? Watching video files. Sorry. I think I'm done.
Your entire argument rests on two incredibly huge assumptions. The first is that people are educated about DRM. The second is that there is a non-DRM replacement for each thing that. As most who watch the tech scene know, these two assumptions are absolutely, laughably false. People do not know what DRM is. Oh, and try buying the latest movie release (legitimately) without DRM.
But wait. The biggest point here is that you cannot build a Blu-Ray player (or DVD player, or HD-DVD player) that will decrypt content without signing NDAs and promising to heavily restrict access to the insides of the player (draconian EULAs, no source, code signing, encryption). Proprietary "standards" are a loss for all.
No matter what you xbox d00dz say about sales figures and marketshare, one fact remains: the Xbox is costing Microsoft billions of dollars. I've read articles that claim the premium 360 package costs something like $526 to make. Another says it costs $715. That's a hell of a lot of money to make back through licensing.
4. It was accompanied by a drop in morale. Partially also because we're talking about people smart enough to understand points 1 to 3, and recognize a _stupid_ penny-pincher when they see one. Being shafted when the company is in dire straits is one thing, but being shafted for such a completely idiotic reason tends to leave a very bad aftertaste.
This may be intentional. Contractors are more likely to flee from a job that is screwing them over. Those who put up with bullshit and don't complain will be the only ones left.
This is only because right now, I can access whatever web site I want to at full speed. If the telcos get their way, I'm pretty sure all the search engines that failed to pay their protection money will start grinding to a halt.
Right now, Microsoft... gives money and software licenses to schools and libraries,
This is not an act of charity. If kids grow up using Microsoft and only Microsoft, they develop several tendencies that benefit MS. Most importantly, they equate 'computer == Microsoft' and 'blue E == "Internet"'. It helps develop operating system xenophobia. This is why FUD like "Linux is communism" works.
Secondly, instead of learning how to operate a computer, they learn how to operate Windows. Incidentally, this is why most people are not "good with computers". They were never forced to learn some of the fundamental concepts we use in the modern computer (file, folder, program, etc), instead learning how to click on the Start menu and My Documents.
Um, yeah. Let's look at this from a perspective based in reality. Businesses generally grow or decline. I'm pretty sure there's no third direction.
Microsoft's only profitable divisions are those that enjoy 90%+ market share (Windows + Office). Where is the potential for growth? There is none, and this is why they dump tons of money into markets like game consoles, as they realize they need to diversify their business.
While they have had some success (the Xbox grabbed a decent slice of the console market), none of these ventures have been profitable. And here lies their problem: they know that they can't sustain their monopoly forever. All empires fall; MS is no different.
Steve J. had the vision of a world where technology was put in the hands of regular people
Without the freedom to run, change, and redistribute software, "technology" sits locked in the vault of Company X. Steve J saw a way to make a lot of money. He's not some idealist that democratized computing.
This is very true, you must listen to what Mr. AC here is saying. If we allow Canadian operating systems to flourish, we're going to start seeing system calls like moose() and poutine(). The horror!
small farmers can't sell their wares directly to the final consumer who brews coffee at home. Rather, this coffee is bought up by one of a handful of multinationals, who because they are so few, more or less dictate prices to the farmers, and then sell it on to the consumers.
Do whatever you can. Bite the bullet and boycott the RIAA (and the MPAA, and the BSA). Write them letters telling them why. Tell your friends and family. Write editorials and send them to your local newspapers. Buy independent media. Write letters to bands you like telling them why you won't be buying their new album, and encourage them to jump ship as soon as they can. See bands live.
Yeah, I know. A lot of this stuff doesn't sound like fun. But fighting for something worthwhile will bring greater reward in the end.
Hey, I have an idea. Why not research the actual church that is behind the paper, and then look at how science is covered in the paper, instead of a knee-jerk reaction to the name? Oh wait, even though there's half a dozen comments saying "ignore the name, read the paper", you still can't get it through your head. Good job.
Maintaining a registry of citizens in possession of such arms is arguably a violation of the Second Amendment.
Even assuming this is true (which is a pretty big assumption), you may want to take into account that the US is not the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is not the US. Theo is not an American citizen, nor does he live here.
You know, I always find PC hardware sites/magazines hilarious. This article is definitely a little more sane than Tom's, yet there is still a weird focus on stuff that does not matter. Half of the hard drive section in this article is talking about the fact that the Tom's system has a "slower" SATA bus. Sorry dude, but 3 GB/sec vs. 1.5 GB/sec does not really matter right now. IDE drives are only now pushing the 100 MB/sec mark. Unless you have 10 drives running off that bus, it's probably not going to matter.
Honestly, I really just don't get it when paragraphs are devoted to detailing how the ATI Foo was 2.3% faster than the Nvidia Bar in Quake 7.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, allowing people to disagree with current church policy is "illogical and inconsistent". It would never be considered "democratic" or anything like that.
Oh, and good job being an atheist. Too bad I don't give a shit.
Also, OS X. I'm not a huge Apple fan, but Tiger only requires a G3, firewire, DVD, and 256 megs of ram (plus 3GB hd space). And while dashboard or whatever might not be super quick on that old iMac DV, the reqs are pretty reasonable.
I'm waiting for the final EULA, which will probably say stuff like "you agree to not block LicenseChecker.exe through the use of firewalls or other measures". Heck, they'll probably label firewalling a circumvention measure, leaving the door open for some nice DMCA lawsuits.
hey i heard wikipedia is a good site lol
As I read your post, one thought filled my mind: something is incredibly wrong. We are worrying about formats, backwards compatability, and whether or not we have a setup that will please the DRM gods. What for? Watching video files. Sorry. I think I'm done.
Your entire argument rests on two incredibly huge assumptions. The first is that people are educated about DRM. The second is that there is a non-DRM replacement for each thing that. As most who watch the tech scene know, these two assumptions are absolutely, laughably false. People do not know what DRM is. Oh, and try buying the latest movie release (legitimately) without DRM.
But wait. The biggest point here is that you cannot build a Blu-Ray player (or DVD player, or HD-DVD player) that will decrypt content without signing NDAs and promising to heavily restrict access to the insides of the player (draconian EULAs, no source, code signing, encryption). Proprietary "standards" are a loss for all.
Only if they use their patent to stop someone from doing something.
Um yeah, just like the Cold War was super happy fun time because nobody dropped a nuke...
No matter what you xbox d00dz say about sales figures and marketshare, one fact remains: the Xbox is costing Microsoft billions of dollars . I've read articles that claim the premium 360 package costs something like $526 to make. Another says it costs $715. That's a hell of a lot of money to make back through licensing.
Yeah, we should stop "regulating" people when they commit murder, too. Crime is crime.
4. It was accompanied by a drop in morale. Partially also because we're talking about people smart enough to understand points 1 to 3, and recognize a _stupid_ penny-pincher when they see one. Being shafted when the company is in dire straits is one thing, but being shafted for such a completely idiotic reason tends to leave a very bad aftertaste.
This may be intentional. Contractors are more likely to flee from a job that is screwing them over. Those who put up with bullshit and don't complain will be the only ones left.
it is very easy to change search engines
This is only because right now, I can access whatever web site I want to at full speed. If the telcos get their way, I'm pretty sure all the search engines that failed to pay their protection money will start grinding to a halt.
Right now, Microsoft ... gives money and software licenses to schools and libraries,
This is not an act of charity. If kids grow up using Microsoft and only Microsoft, they develop several tendencies that benefit MS. Most importantly, they equate 'computer == Microsoft' and 'blue E == "Internet"'. It helps develop operating system xenophobia. This is why FUD like "Linux is communism" works. Secondly, instead of learning how to operate a computer, they learn how to operate Windows. Incidentally, this is why most people are not "good with computers". They were never forced to learn some of the fundamental concepts we use in the modern computer (file, folder, program, etc), instead learning how to click on the Start menu and My Documents.
Um, yeah. Let's look at this from a perspective based in reality. Businesses generally grow or decline. I'm pretty sure there's no third direction.
Microsoft's only profitable divisions are those that enjoy 90%+ market share (Windows + Office). Where is the potential for growth? There is none, and this is why they dump tons of money into markets like game consoles, as they realize they need to diversify their business.
While they have had some success (the Xbox grabbed a decent slice of the console market), none of these ventures have been profitable. And here lies their problem: they know that they can't sustain their monopoly forever. All empires fall; MS is no different.
one of the best ideas of all time.
After all, corporations want to be associated with warm fuzzies. They can start a charity or not.
Steve J. had the vision of a world where technology was put in the hands of regular people
Without the freedom to run, change, and redistribute software, "technology" sits locked in the vault of Company X. Steve J saw a way to make a lot of money. He's not some idealist that democratized computing.
This is very true, you must listen to what Mr. AC here is saying. If we allow Canadian operating systems to flourish, we're going to start seeing system calls like moose() and poutine(). The horror!
I love me a good cup of market-based socialism in the morning...
Do whatever you can. Bite the bullet and boycott the RIAA (and the MPAA, and the BSA). Write them letters telling them why. Tell your friends and family. Write editorials and send them to your local newspapers. Buy independent media. Write letters to bands you like telling them why you won't be buying their new album, and encourage them to jump ship as soon as they can. See bands live.
Yeah, I know. A lot of this stuff doesn't sound like fun. But fighting for something worthwhile will bring greater reward in the end.
How about STARCRAFT ONLINE? Wait maybe not...
RedHat listens only to its customers - proportionaly to the price they have paid. Ubuntu still listens to its fellow users.
Um, and Redhat makes money, while Ubuntu is basically Mark Shuttleworth's pet money sink.
Hey, I have an idea. Why not research the actual church that is behind the paper, and then look at how science is covered in the paper, instead of a knee-jerk reaction to the name? Oh wait, even though there's half a dozen comments saying "ignore the name, read the paper", you still can't get it through your head. Good job.
Maintaining a registry of citizens in possession of such arms is arguably a violation of the Second Amendment.
Even assuming this is true (which is a pretty big assumption), you may want to take into account that the US is not the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is not the US. Theo is not an American citizen, nor does he live here.
You know, I always find PC hardware sites/magazines hilarious. This article is definitely a little more sane than Tom's, yet there is still a weird focus on stuff that does not matter. Half of the hard drive section in this article is talking about the fact that the Tom's system has a "slower" SATA bus. Sorry dude, but 3 GB/sec vs. 1.5 GB/sec does not really matter right now. IDE drives are only now pushing the 100 MB/sec mark. Unless you have 10 drives running off that bus, it's probably not going to matter.
Honestly, I really just don't get it when paragraphs are devoted to detailing how the ATI Foo was 2.3% faster than the Nvidia Bar in Quake 7.
Damn you! Now I want kool-aid! And I have none.