The hammer needs to come down on those who sell software for those rediculous prices. Its called price gouging, and its highly illegal. No person in their right mind where I live will pay $300 for a copy of Windows. Much less $400 for a copy of some office suite, and even if they do, they put it on every machine they own. Most of the world pirates software. The United States is one of the ONLY countries that encourages people buy, and pay that much for software. It is NOT illegal to put a single copy of software on 100 machines. A software company that believes in copyright may not like it, but that doesn't make it illegal. Most people don't care what big software companys like, or dislike.
Again, I come back to what I have said before. If you sell a PC & Flat screen for $900. And your competitor down the road sells the same machine for $600 with a pirated copy of XP Pro, and loads of pirated software. Who do you think the people will come to? Not the guy selling the one for $900 I can assure you.
I don't know where your fantacy world is, but in the REAL world people pirate software, and will continue to do so reguardless of what authorities, or software companies believe in. In the REAL world, if you pay for something its yours. Thats what the majority of people believe. Wether you like it or not. Thats reality.
Go down the street in new york, or atlanta ga, and ask 100 people if they would pay $400 for a copy of Microsoft Office, or pay $10 for a working pirated copy. Guess what the majority would say?
Well, with Windows XP you have to pay money just for a codec to watch a DVD if you use windows media player. You can just download Media Player Classic, and run it out of the box (open source player). Quicktime & VLC on Tiger plays just about everything I want them to.
Yes, The parts cost $347 + $30 shipping, give or take a dollar or two for shipping changes. It cost $7.50 an hour to pay these guys. So im not out of anything. No training on Windows is offered. But then again, Windows needs training as well. The TCO on Macs are a little higher, but we charge $10 less to work on Macs, than on Windows. Linux $40. Mac $40. Windows $50. Windows Laptop $55, Legacy Windows (98 & Me) is $60. We make more than Dell per machine we sell, but we probably sell 10 machines a day at most. Training is only offered to those that want it. Maybe 2/3 only really need it.
New Computer: $469 Windows Tax: $300 Spyware Cleaning: $65 (Probably every 3 months) Virus Cleaning: $65 (Probably every 3 months) Microsoft Office: $400 Commercial AV software: $80 a year
In the Linux World:
New Computer: $469 2 hours of lessons by my trained staff: Free If something goes wrong after warrenty: $40
the TCO of Windows is WAAY higher than Linux in my company which I own. I set the TCO of Windows in this small town. You choose Windows, you choose to pay.
Removing DRM is not illegal. DRM is illegal because it violates fair use rights. And I believe that the Betamax (court) decicion was here before the DMCA. The DMCA is an unconstitutional law, but has yet to be challenged in court. The DMCA is illegal within itself. I will never be told what I can and can't say. If I find a way to make (insert something here) work properly, where I can record, or copy (insert whatever here), and some company like Sony doesn't like it, too bad, its already on everyone's drives. I'll tell Sony to bring it on. Ive got lots of money, and a few lawyers myself. I have a few things that I can convict them of too.
Yes, it may get some of the ideals across, but it's illegal (and bad taste), and most people won't respond too nicely to it on either side.
It is illegal because the entertainment industry illegally lobbied (paid off) our ELECTED OFFICIALS TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL. They break the law, congress breaks the law, so what IS the law anymore? BTW: I am pro choice, but I do NOT believe in murder. God gave us all free will, but he expects us to do the right thing, and make the right choices.
Revolution is how America was born. Without revolution we would still be in England, and probably be executed for not being Catholic.
If money went to the artists that made the music, then they would all be competeing against each other for your dollar, and there would be no Sony, TW, or BMG. Independant artists are great, I listen to a lot of independant metal, and R&B. A good friend of mine, and a local artist owns Scandalous Records. http://www.scandalousrecords.com/. I encourage others to support independant artists too. But what they download is up to them. If they buy a CD, they can do with it as they wish. Just as if someone buys a computer from me, they can do with it as they wish. P2P is a great peice of technology, and Limewire rocks. Limewire has its uses wether good, or bad, and is there for people to enjoy, and learn how technology works. I don't ask them what they paid for and really don't care. They may have owned the CD at one time, and lost it 10 years ago for all I know. You know what would REALLY kick ass though? A download service offering NON-DRM mp3s, Aif, or Ogg Vorbis (why not all?) for like 30 or 50 cents a song (and none of that wma crap since it doesn't work on anything but one player). Now THAT is something I would go for.
I myself am an artist, but unlike the greedy ones out there, I make music so that others can enjoy it. All my music is created digitally on my Apple with GarageBand, and Soundtrack Pro. I never pick up an instrument. Before Christmas I put Electric Grace on my site for everyone to enjoy. http://www.kore-net.com/~jd/
but I own a computer repair store in a town of about 5,000. I am the only one. I do not support DRM or anything with 'Trusted Computing', and NEVER will, for that matter. When someone asks what they should use to get music, I point them to Limewire. I preload Limewire, FireFox, AVG, Nero OEM, and Ad-Aware, on all the PCs I sell. I put the burdon of DRM reactions on the MPAA, RIAA, and those who sell broken music that violates my customer's fair use rights. When a customer has a Sony rootkit problem, I fix the problem, then give them Sony's number for their corporate office, and the number of a good lawyer. If a customer has music with DRM attached to it, I have tools to strip the DRM from the songs, then re-encode them into mp3 format. I now have 3/4ths of the town's file sharers on limewire, and am going strong. I don't put ANYTHING on a customers computer that restricts what they can, and cannot do with THEIR OWN machine. Untill the entertainment industry gets their act together, and stops infecting people's private property with viruses, and spyware, lobbying our elected officials, and continued cyber-terrorist activity, I will continue to recommend Limewire, and fight them with what resources, and influence I have. And at the moment Mr. Garfield, my business is expanding, fast, and vastly increasing.
It is about time. I can't count the number of times I have gone to a site that only works under one browser, and one OS. Why should you have to have a specific OS to visit a website? That is quite insane to write a broken website like that. One example is the Agent login on budgetphone.com, it doesn't work at all.
If it works under firefox, then 99 percent of the time it will work under IE, with the exception of CSS pages. Hey, Im on a Mac, and I prefer using Firefox over Safari, or IE.
I love the RSS features on Firefox, along with the plugins you can use to manage them. Hopefully we will see MS incorporate RSS into their OS in some way as we have seen Apple do it with Tiger, like the RSS screensaver that displays Slashdot headlines. Hopefully MS won't create their 'own' proprietary so called standards then try to take it over.
Slashdot Mirror
The hammer needs to come down on those who sell software for those rediculous prices. Its called price gouging, and its highly illegal. No person in their right mind where I live will pay $300 for a copy of Windows. Much less $400 for a copy of some office suite, and even if they do, they put it on every machine they own. Most of the world pirates software. The United States is one of the ONLY countries that encourages people buy, and pay that much for software. It is NOT illegal to put a single copy of software on 100 machines. A software company that believes in copyright may not like it, but that doesn't make it illegal. Most people don't care what big software companys like, or dislike.
Again, I come back to what I have said before. If you sell a PC & Flat screen for $900. And your competitor down the road sells the same machine for $600 with a pirated copy of XP Pro, and loads of pirated software. Who do you think the people will come to? Not the guy selling the one for $900 I can assure you.
I don't know where your fantacy world is, but in the REAL world people pirate software, and will continue to do so reguardless of what authorities, or software companies believe in. In the REAL world, if you pay for something its yours. Thats what the majority of people believe. Wether you like it or not. Thats reality.
Go down the street in new york, or atlanta ga, and ask 100 people if they would pay $400 for a copy of Microsoft Office, or pay $10 for a working pirated copy. Guess what the majority would say?
Well, with Windows XP you have to pay money just for a codec to watch a DVD if you use windows media player. You can just download Media Player Classic, and run it out of the box (open source player). Quicktime & VLC on Tiger plays just about everything I want them to.
Yes, The parts cost $347 + $30 shipping, give or take a dollar or two for shipping changes. It cost $7.50 an hour to pay these guys. So im not out of anything. No training on Windows is offered. But then again, Windows needs training as well. The TCO on Macs are a little higher, but we charge $10 less to work on Macs, than on Windows. Linux $40. Mac $40. Windows $50. Windows Laptop $55, Legacy Windows (98 & Me) is $60. We make more than Dell per machine we sell, but we probably sell 10 machines a day at most. Training is only offered to those that want it. Maybe 2/3 only really need it.
In the Windows world:
New Computer: $469
Windows Tax: $300
Spyware Cleaning: $65 (Probably every 3 months)
Virus Cleaning: $65 (Probably every 3 months)
Microsoft Office: $400
Commercial AV software: $80 a year
In the Linux World:
New Computer: $469
2 hours of lessons by my trained staff: Free
If something goes wrong after warrenty: $40
the TCO of Windows is WAAY higher than Linux in my company which I own. I set the TCO
of Windows in this small town. You choose Windows, you choose to pay.
Removing DRM is not illegal. DRM is illegal because it violates fair use rights. And I believe that the Betamax (court) decicion was here before the DMCA. The DMCA is an unconstitutional law, but has yet to be challenged in court. The DMCA is illegal within itself. I will never be told what I can and can't say. If I find a way to make (insert something here) work properly, where I can record, or copy (insert whatever here), and some company like Sony doesn't like it, too bad, its already on everyone's drives. I'll tell Sony to bring it on. Ive got lots of money, and a few lawyers myself. I have a few things that I can convict them of too.
Yes, it may get some of the ideals across, but it's illegal (and bad taste), and most people won't respond too nicely to it on either side.
It is illegal because the entertainment industry illegally lobbied (paid off) our ELECTED OFFICIALS TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL. They break the law, congress breaks the law, so what IS the law anymore? BTW: I am pro choice, but I do NOT believe in murder. God gave us all free will, but he expects us to do the right thing, and make the right choices.
Revolution is how America was born. Without revolution we would still be in England, and probably be executed for not being Catholic.
If money went to the artists that made the music, then they would all be competeing against each other for your dollar, and there would be no Sony, TW, or BMG. Independant artists are great, I listen to a lot of independant metal, and R&B. A good friend of mine, and a local artist owns Scandalous Records. http://www.scandalousrecords.com/. I encourage others to support independant artists too. But what they download is up to them. If they buy a CD, they can do with it as they wish. Just as if someone buys a computer from me, they can do with it as they wish. P2P is a great peice of technology, and Limewire rocks. Limewire has its uses wether good, or bad, and is there for people to enjoy, and learn how technology works. I don't ask them what they paid for and really don't care. They may have owned the CD at one time, and lost it 10 years ago for all I know. You know what would REALLY kick ass though? A download service offering NON-DRM mp3s, Aif, or Ogg Vorbis (why not all?) for like 30 or 50 cents a song (and none of that wma crap since it doesn't work on anything but one player). Now THAT is something I would go for.
I myself am an artist, but unlike the greedy ones out there, I make music so that others can enjoy it. All my music is created digitally on my Apple with GarageBand, and Soundtrack Pro. I never pick up an instrument. Before Christmas I put Electric Grace on my site for everyone to enjoy. http://www.kore-net.com/~jd/
but I own a computer repair store in a town of about 5,000. I am the only one. I do not support DRM or anything with 'Trusted Computing', and NEVER will, for that matter. When someone asks what they should use to get music, I point them to Limewire. I preload Limewire, FireFox, AVG, Nero OEM, and Ad-Aware, on all the PCs I sell. I put the burdon of DRM reactions on the MPAA, RIAA, and those who sell broken music that violates my customer's fair use rights. When a customer has a Sony rootkit problem, I fix the problem, then give them Sony's number for their corporate office, and the number of a good lawyer. If a customer has music with DRM attached to it, I have tools to strip the DRM from the songs, then re-encode them into mp3 format. I now have 3/4ths of the town's file sharers on limewire, and am going strong. I don't put ANYTHING on a customers computer that restricts what they can, and cannot do with THEIR OWN machine. Untill the entertainment industry gets their act together, and stops infecting people's private property with viruses, and spyware, lobbying our elected officials, and continued cyber-terrorist activity, I will continue to recommend Limewire, and fight them with what resources, and influence I have. And at the moment Mr. Garfield, my business is expanding, fast, and vastly increasing.
This is also covered on Yahoo's news site.
a triot_act
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051222/ap_on_go_co/p
It is about time. I can't count the number of times I have gone to a site that only works under one browser, and one OS. Why should you have to have a specific OS to visit a website? That is quite insane to write a broken website like that. One example is the Agent login on budgetphone.com, it doesn't work at all.
If it works under firefox, then 99 percent of the time it will work under IE, with the exception of CSS pages. Hey, Im on a Mac, and I prefer using Firefox over Safari, or IE.
I love the RSS features on Firefox, along with the plugins you can use to manage them. Hopefully we will see MS incorporate RSS into their OS in some way as we have seen Apple do it with Tiger, like the RSS screensaver that displays Slashdot headlines. Hopefully MS won't create their 'own' proprietary so called standards then try to take it over.