I can't believe that the RIAA passed up this opportunity.
They could've at least done a half-assed suit against the man, taken him for a couple thousand dollars, and used it as justification that no one is exempt. He wouldn't miss the money, Warner would compensate him, and the RIAA no longer is the evil entity that sues old ladies and single mothers that can't use computers.
Or they could use him as a sacrificial lamb, suing him for everything he's worth, ask for his resignation and/or attempt to get him fired, and cleaned out all his hardware. The RIAA could stand to make a lot of money, gain huge precedent in court against a defendant that can truly afford the costs of high powered attorneys, and only be out one CEO of one its members. Then they could say that every suit is 100% legitimate, and even have many people agree.
Or they could even just make it appear thats what happened, and fire the CEO with the best severence package ever.
You assume that Microsoft could spend the time and money on making a better product. Placing these resources elsewhere, Microsoft couldn't really do much to actually improve Office.
We've already seen a recent topic about the number of people involved in the Vista shutdown menu, so new hires wouldn't really help. They could spend their lobbying money on streamlining their processes and allowing better connectivity between different work groups, but is much more costly and will have less short term rewards. Throwing money at Office can't help Microsoft right now, and even a momentary lapse in market-share is disastrous for a monopoly.
Lobbying is cheap, effective, and can help meet both short and long term goals. While I think corporate influence is one of the largest problems in the political process today because it doesn't represent the people, it is the right move from a business standpoint to invest in lobbying such as this.
So our portable energy used to come from batteries, and now its becoming gas-powered.
And our large vehicle engines used to all be gas powered, and now it comes from batteries.
Interesting reversal.
"the other side of the eternal debate over gaming preference -- consoles vs. PCs."
What's really to debate here? Its a preference; both have advantages and disdvantages, and people like them for different reasons. Gamers with enough money have both because neither is quantifiably better.
Well, the article's point is that its advantage is that it helps increase FPS due to lower CPU use.
You're talking ping when they're talking FPS.
Whether its worth 300 dollars for that FPS boost instead of spending 300 dollars elsewhere in the comp to improve FPS is another question, however.
The lack of sales of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is unsurprising.
What does surprise me is that it seems both sides are mostly selling these products on higher quality video, rather than capacity.
I look at the early releases for these two and only see movies.
I can't really tell the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray or HD-DVD in terms of video quality, but I can easily tell something quantifiable like having one piece of media for a whole season of a TV show vs. 4 or 5 DVDs. That convenience is why I like single DVD games over 5 CD games for my PC.
Easier fix: Rig the machines with malicious code to have Green/Libertarian/unlikely Independant candidates win elections.
There would be an immediate investigation from Democrats and Republicans into all electronic voting, and any machine this happened on won't be used again.
Security in voting would suddenly become a priority.
What I like about Nintendo of late is they've tried to win based on gameplay, price, functionality, and fun. Microsoft and Sony have to try to counter that by innovating.
Unlike many industries today, the games industry will continue to grow and get better for consumers because it is being fought with new ideas and enjoyable products, rather than in a court room.
I find that comforting, and I fear the inevitable (in the U.S. market at least) day where the big gaming companies just try to out patent, out copyright, and outsue each other to gain ground while holding on to stagnant products.
When I played WoW, I liked the idea of large raids. I would've liked to see larger than 40 man raids IF the server and clients could handle it. I was in a guild that frequently had to turn away players from 40-man raids.
I think it is conducive to the idea of a MASSIVELY Multiplayer Online RPG to have large scale raids. It gives an epic feel.
"I want everybody to go from a frequency world to a number-of-cores-world."
That's the same thing they tried against AMD before. Higher frequency is a bigger number so it will sell better, right? Now, more cores is a bigger number so it will sell better, right?
If Intel wants to not repeat the same mistake and let AMD gain ground on them, they should go to a "performance world." Actual perfomance, in many different environments.
You CAN advertise any part of your catalog very specifically to people who like similar products.
Especially with things like music. Look at some internet radio like http://www.pandora.com/ or http://www.launch.com/ there are some great ways to market that 90% that doesn't usually get big advertizing.
Both of those sites let you start off your own internet radio stations, and then they try to match your preferences and bring in similar music, and once in a while they throw in a curveball that you may or may not like.
So I start off a station with my favorite Indie Band A that gets marketing, and then I hear favorite bands B, and C. But whats this? Some new Band D that I've never heard because it is never advertized? Cool, I like this!
It's a lot like Amazon's preferences, and products that can be marketed in this manner support the idea of the Long Tail. But it definately is not for every market.
So an individual is responsible for their own open WiFi connection? What about cities that have square miles of open WiFi? Are they responsible as well if people download kiddie porn or participate in terrorist chatrooms on those connections?
Glad to see Gates put in the standard 2 years notice.
But seriously, people that complain that he's evil are misplacing blame for his role at MS. He does his job well, which pleases his shareholders. If you don't like the way Microsoft does business, then you need to elect Congressmen and Presidents that believe in consumer rights and disapprove of monopolistic abuse. Bill Gates is not to blame for a twisted legal system that puts a strong team of lawyers ahead of a strong product.
Saying that touring increases CD sales is fine, and I'll even give the article it's assumption that p2p has reduced those sales. My understanding is that artists make between 1 and 2 dollars for each CD. So, assuming that every ticket holder buys a CD (obviously a best case, never going to happen scenario), the artist would receive 2 bucks per ticket holder from CD sales from the tour.
Now, assume that because of p2p or other reasons, not a single person seeing the tour buys a CD. The artist needs to recoup 2 dollars per person from ticket sales to remain even. Assuming the artist's take is 10% of the door (no venue is that bad), they need to increase ticket prices by 20 dollars to recoup that 2 dollar loss from ticket sales.
So, in this near-worst case scenario, Madonna's ticket prices would already be an outrageous $230 dollars without the claim of p2p hurting CD sales. p2p is just an excuse to charge the highest price that people will pay.
Based on their track record, the Copyright Office will likely do what is asked by these corporations.
However, I'm curious as to why? What does the Copyright Office gain by not putting in these safeguards? Who do they answer to? Are these corporations truly funding them?
I know little about the Copyright Office mentioned in this article.
It doesn't matter that the "scenario is unlikely." It is an unlikely scenario that you will be wiretapped without a warrant, but that doesn't make it any more just.
The fact is that the scenario COULD happen where DRM takes down a machine that is needed to keep people alive. This is BS either way you cut it.
Why merely threaten legislation if it continues to happen?
Laws against "products with dangerous rootkit software" wouldn't seem to harm anyone.
Enact the legislation now.
Is there not a different way to set up the game controls to allow for a simpler or older style control set to be used with the new interface?
If not, then there should be.
This does not just affect disabled people, but it also affects older people and the casual, non-computer proficient gamer. Even people who prefer a simpler interface. This affects a significant portion of their user base.
I fail to see how it is absurd, IQ tests pretty accurately measure one type of intelligence. That's not reductive and in fact can be useful to some. High IQ people are often strong problem solvers, so it may help to know your IQ if you are curious about what type of job you might be good at (assuming you like all jobs equally).
Similarly, if you can leg press 1,000 lbs., it doesn't mean that your whole body is strong, but that doesn't mean its not an accurate measure of your leg strength. And like IQ, that test says nothing about how successful in life you will be, but it is also far from useless.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't believe that the RIAA passed up this opportunity.
They could've at least done a half-assed suit against the man, taken him for a couple thousand dollars, and used it as justification that no one is exempt. He wouldn't miss the money, Warner would compensate him, and the RIAA no longer is the evil entity that sues old ladies and single mothers that can't use computers.
Or they could use him as a sacrificial lamb, suing him for everything he's worth, ask for his resignation and/or attempt to get him fired, and cleaned out all his hardware. The RIAA could stand to make a lot of money, gain huge precedent in court against a defendant that can truly afford the costs of high powered attorneys, and only be out one CEO of one its members. Then they could say that every suit is 100% legitimate, and even have many people agree.
Or they could even just make it appear thats what happened, and fire the CEO with the best severence package ever.
You assume that Microsoft could spend the time and money on making a better product. Placing these resources elsewhere, Microsoft couldn't really do much to actually improve Office.
We've already seen a recent topic about the number of people involved in the Vista shutdown menu, so new hires wouldn't really help. They could spend their lobbying money on streamlining their processes and allowing better connectivity between different work groups, but is much more costly and will have less short term rewards. Throwing money at Office can't help Microsoft right now, and even a momentary lapse in market-share is disastrous for a monopoly.
Lobbying is cheap, effective, and can help meet both short and long term goals. While I think corporate influence is one of the largest problems in the political process today because it doesn't represent the people, it is the right move from a business standpoint to invest in lobbying such as this.
So our portable energy used to come from batteries, and now its becoming gas-powered. And our large vehicle engines used to all be gas powered, and now it comes from batteries. Interesting reversal.
"the other side of the eternal debate over gaming preference -- consoles vs. PCs."
What's really to debate here? Its a preference; both have advantages and disdvantages, and people like them for different reasons. Gamers with enough money have both because neither is quantifiably better.
In the near future, there will be an article on the PS3's hardware specs.
Then some unimaginative Slashdotter will say "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!"
Then a (slightly) more imaginative Slashdotter will direct them to this article.
Well, the article's point is that its advantage is that it helps increase FPS due to lower CPU use. You're talking ping when they're talking FPS. Whether its worth 300 dollars for that FPS boost instead of spending 300 dollars elsewhere in the comp to improve FPS is another question, however.
So there's a possibility that downloading videos might spark interest in a standard that isn't ridiculously expensive and overprotective?
I'll do my part and download some EVD movies tonight.
The lack of sales of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is unsurprising.
What does surprise me is that it seems both sides are mostly selling these products on higher quality video, rather than capacity.
I look at the early releases for these two and only see movies.
I can't really tell the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray or HD-DVD in terms of video quality, but I can easily tell something quantifiable like having one piece of media for a whole season of a TV show vs. 4 or 5 DVDs. That convenience is why I like single DVD games over 5 CD games for my PC.
Easier fix: Rig the machines with malicious code to have Green/Libertarian/unlikely Independant candidates win elections.
There would be an immediate investigation from Democrats and Republicans into all electronic voting, and any machine this happened on won't be used again.
Security in voting would suddenly become a priority.
What I like about Nintendo of late is they've tried to win based on gameplay, price, functionality, and fun. Microsoft and Sony have to try to counter that by innovating.
Unlike many industries today, the games industry will continue to grow and get better for consumers because it is being fought with new ideas and enjoyable products, rather than in a court room.
I find that comforting, and I fear the inevitable (in the U.S. market at least) day where the big gaming companies just try to out patent, out copyright, and outsue each other to gain ground while holding on to stagnant products.
When I played WoW, I liked the idea of large raids. I would've liked to see larger than 40 man raids IF the server and clients could handle it. I was in a guild that frequently had to turn away players from 40-man raids.
I think it is conducive to the idea of a MASSIVELY Multiplayer Online RPG to have large scale raids. It gives an epic feel.
"I want everybody to go from a frequency world to a number-of-cores-world."
That's the same thing they tried against AMD before. Higher frequency is a bigger number so it will sell better, right? Now, more cores is a bigger number so it will sell better, right?
If Intel wants to not repeat the same mistake and let AMD gain ground on them, they should go to a "performance world." Actual perfomance, in many different environments.
You CAN advertise any part of your catalog very specifically to people who like similar products.
Especially with things like music. Look at some internet radio like http://www.pandora.com/ or http://www.launch.com/ there are some great ways to market that 90% that doesn't usually get big advertizing.
Both of those sites let you start off your own internet radio stations, and then they try to match your preferences and bring in similar music, and once in a while they throw in a curveball that you may or may not like.
So I start off a station with my favorite Indie Band A that gets marketing, and then I hear favorite bands B, and C. But whats this? Some new Band D that I've never heard because it is never advertized? Cool, I like this!
It's a lot like Amazon's preferences, and products that can be marketed in this manner support the idea of the Long Tail. But it definately is not for every market.
So an individual is responsible for their own open WiFi connection? What about cities that have square miles of open WiFi? Are they responsible as well if people download kiddie porn or participate in terrorist chatrooms on those connections?
Glad to see Gates put in the standard 2 years notice. But seriously, people that complain that he's evil are misplacing blame for his role at MS. He does his job well, which pleases his shareholders. If you don't like the way Microsoft does business, then you need to elect Congressmen and Presidents that believe in consumer rights and disapprove of monopolistic abuse. Bill Gates is not to blame for a twisted legal system that puts a strong team of lawyers ahead of a strong product.
Well, he was probably walking on the wrong side of the street, as well.
Saying that touring increases CD sales is fine, and I'll even give the article it's assumption that p2p has reduced those sales. My understanding is that artists make between 1 and 2 dollars for each CD. So, assuming that every ticket holder buys a CD (obviously a best case, never going to happen scenario), the artist would receive 2 bucks per ticket holder from CD sales from the tour. Now, assume that because of p2p or other reasons, not a single person seeing the tour buys a CD. The artist needs to recoup 2 dollars per person from ticket sales to remain even. Assuming the artist's take is 10% of the door (no venue is that bad), they need to increase ticket prices by 20 dollars to recoup that 2 dollar loss from ticket sales. So, in this near-worst case scenario, Madonna's ticket prices would already be an outrageous $230 dollars without the claim of p2p hurting CD sales. p2p is just an excuse to charge the highest price that people will pay.
Based on their track record, the Copyright Office will likely do what is asked by these corporations. However, I'm curious as to why? What does the Copyright Office gain by not putting in these safeguards? Who do they answer to? Are these corporations truly funding them? I know little about the Copyright Office mentioned in this article.
It doesn't matter that the "scenario is unlikely." It is an unlikely scenario that you will be wiretapped without a warrant, but that doesn't make it any more just.
The fact is that the scenario COULD happen where DRM takes down a machine that is needed to keep people alive. This is BS either way you cut it.
Why merely threaten legislation if it continues to happen? Laws against "products with dangerous rootkit software" wouldn't seem to harm anyone. Enact the legislation now.
There was an old lady who swalled a fly...
Dude, you're getting a machine that doesn't work with games!
People, this is why we must keep donating to The Little Donny Foundation, so that we may prevent this horrible problem.
Is there not a different way to set up the game controls to allow for a simpler or older style control set to be used with the new interface?
If not, then there should be.
This does not just affect disabled people, but it also affects older people and the casual, non-computer proficient gamer. Even people who prefer a simpler interface. This affects a significant portion of their user base.
I fail to see how it is absurd, IQ tests pretty accurately measure one type of intelligence. That's not reductive and in fact can be useful to some. High IQ people are often strong problem solvers, so it may help to know your IQ if you are curious about what type of job you might be good at (assuming you like all jobs equally). Similarly, if you can leg press 1,000 lbs., it doesn't mean that your whole body is strong, but that doesn't mean its not an accurate measure of your leg strength. And like IQ, that test says nothing about how successful in life you will be, but it is also far from useless.