To say that a threat is protected under the free speech ammendment is rediculous. It's like saying you have a constitutional right to kill the president because you don't agree with him, and you did it out of protest.
If he had said, "I disagree with for , and I think s/he should try to fix it/ change it/ stop doing it by," he would have been fine. There wouldn't be this whole mess. Maybe the teacher would have improved whatever it was that pissed the kid off!
The kid's an idiot. His parents are wrong to try to protect him. I, for one, agree with the judge's decision.
It's also smart to pick something that isn't trying to be super cool and edgy like the "Xbox 360." Your mother or girlfriend doesn't want something called an Xbox 360, but that's okay because they won't find any games they like on an Xbox 360 anyway (beside xarcade, that is). They might be less intimidated by the "Wii" and will definitely find Nintendo games and non-games that sound more interesting than "Madden 2007" and "GTA 2008".
To get this out of the way: I'm tired of guys assuming that girls wont play "violent" or "manly" games. Yes, I am a girl. I also camped overnight for the xbox 360 at it's release, I've beaten all 11 Final Fantasy PS2 games, I have three pretty geared World of Warcraft characters. I can frag with the best of you.
Anyway, now that I've gotten over my female-gamer rage...
In my opinion, we should stop snickering behind our hands at "Wii" (look! I said "we" in that sentance! Did anyone crack up?). A console's worth does not fall in it's name, but in its specs and power. For example, I love my laptop, but I hate the name "MacBook Pro." Did that stop me from wanting to buy it? No! What I'm trying to say is... The majority of the criticism coming at the name is from gamers that already have a firm foothold in the gaming world, so the name really shouldn't matter to you.
On the flip side, Nintendo is making a smart move with it's "friendly and cutsey" name. As a previous user mentioned with the iPod, a name is the first thing a new consumer uses to assess an item. A little name is easy to remember, and provides the less techniogically inclined consumer with an illusion of a friendly trinket that wont take them hours to figure out how to program. As apple proved, that's smart marketing to increase your customer base.
Slashdot Mirror
To say that a threat is protected under the free speech ammendment is rediculous. It's like saying you have a constitutional right to kill the president because you don't agree with him, and you did it out of protest. If he had said, "I disagree with for , and I think s/he should try to fix it/ change it/ stop doing it by ," he would have been fine. There wouldn't be this whole mess. Maybe the teacher would have improved whatever it was that pissed the kid off!
The kid's an idiot. His parents are wrong to try to protect him. I, for one, agree with the judge's decision.
Anyway, now that I've gotten over my female-gamer rage...
In my opinion, we should stop snickering behind our hands at "Wii" (look! I said "we" in that sentance! Did anyone crack up?). A console's worth does not fall in it's name, but in its specs and power. For example, I love my laptop, but I hate the name "MacBook Pro." Did that stop me from wanting to buy it? No! What I'm trying to say is... The majority of the criticism coming at the name is from gamers that already have a firm foothold in the gaming world, so the name really shouldn't matter to you.
On the flip side, Nintendo is making a smart move with it's "friendly and cutsey" name. As a previous user mentioned with the iPod, a name is the first thing a new consumer uses to assess an item. A little name is easy to remember, and provides the less techniogically inclined consumer with an illusion of a friendly trinket that wont take them hours to figure out how to program. As apple proved, that's smart marketing to increase your customer base.