One could consider the DRM as a form of packaging. It is not the song itself, but something placed around the song. The DRM costs Apple money (CPU usage, initial and ongoing development), and Apple surely pass that cost onto Sony.
It depends on how they're going to be used. Like most things, they could be used for good or evil. It seems like the Australian one might end up being harmless, since it doesn't really contain any more information than our drivers licenses currently do. It is a waste of money, though, since we already have the drivers licenses, and special identity cards for people who do not drive.
The other thing to keep in mind with all of these cards is that if they're convenient for you, they're probably also convenient for identity thieves. You don't sound like you've ever become a victim of identity fraud, but it is something to keep in mind. You never know when you're going to lose your wallet or forget your "everything card"...
I would think that the best thing to do, in terms of security, would be spreading identity across multiple cards so that no card is all-powerful. It's a bit like not using the same password for every website.
I fully support Microsoft's anti-copying measures. I'd love to see them really lock up Windows updates so that only legitimate users can get access to them, or even better, I'd love to see them create a Windows and an Office that is too tough to crack.
I don't think all of the current Windows users are willing to pay for Windows, and if they are forced into doing it, there's a good chance they'll look elsewhere. Those that do decide to pay for Windows will also eventually be tempted by any alternative that has zero cost.
In trying to make all users pay for Windows, Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot, and I think they realise that they need illegitimate copying. Not too much, but not too little, either...
Every extra option during the installation increases the perceived level of complexity for typical (non-technical) users. That's undesirable. Ideally, users can pop in the CD, and click the "let the wizard handle the entire installation for me!" button. That's what the users want to be able to do. Reality isn't quite so simple, but wherever there is a somewhat reasonable default that can be used, it might be better to leave the options out of the installation.
As you pointed out, this isn't really a bad default setting. The only puzzling thing is that Microsoft claims home users and business users want different firewall settings, but that they're going with what the business users want in (presumably) all versions, despite the fact that they have versions aimed at home users and versions aimed at business users. That's just perculiar, though.
There are plenty of good reasons why Vista might suck, but this isn't really one of them.
The stupid part is that these phones can't interface with computers well. All I want is one of these fancy phones that will interface well with my Linux PC.
These are the things I expect from a phone: - Appears as a USB mass storage device. - Data like contacts, messages, and so on should be stored as CSV files or some similar sort of text files. I want them editable in a text editor. - Photos and videos stored in/photos and/videos, respectively. - Photos and videos in common (and preferably patent-free) formats. PNG and Ogg Theora would suit me fine. - Bluetooth. - A C or C++ cross compiler.
I think the Nokia 770 might be perfect for me if only it was a phone. If anyone knows of a phone that can do some of those things (a bare minimum would be appearing as a mass storage device...) please let me know!
I also don't see why digital cameras and other devices shouldn't all appear as mass storage devices. It is ridiculous to require some crappy half-hearted software effort (that usually doesn't work) from phone companies.
Damn. That's a good one. In fact, it's probably closer to being true than anything else is. Oil would certainly have a better chance of funding terrorism than copyright violations ever would.
I agree. Most free software can also be run just fine on Windows, so it would be a good idea for any organisation switching to slowly replace each server with free software before migrating to Linux. Once everything is running free software on top of Windows, switching to Linux should be fairly painless.
Suppose SOME of the population is informed about C, though. It is better to let A or B win with 60% of the votes than to let B win with close to 100% because this way C has a better chance in the next election. This is the way change works.
Even if you vote C and they don't get elected, the vote still made a difference because more people will see C as a viable option for the next election. If no one votes C, no one ever will, and that is undesirable for democracy.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 - 28 April 1945) led Italy from 1922 to 1943. He created a Fascist state through the use of state terror and propaganda. Using his charisma, total control of the media, and intimidation of political rivals, he disassembled the existing democratic government system.
I also find that argument extremely irritating. It's based on the "one person can't make a difference" philosophy, which is also wrong since every person DOES make a small difference.
Suppose there were three political parties. A is extremely evil, B is mildly evil, and C are the "good guys", but A and B have been raking in most of the votes for decades. The population knows that A and B are evil and that C is good, but in past elections, C has never come close to winning. Who should the population vote for?
If you follow the philosophy that "one person can't make a difference", then B will end up getting voted in, despite the entire population wanting C. If everyone votes for the political party that best represents their interests, C will get voted in, despite each person only making a "small difference".
It's unlikely that learning a new language will help any Americans keep their jobs. The main thing that gets outsourced is software development, but America is sabotaging itself when it comes to software.
The fact that certain other parts of the world do not have software patents means that those areas of the world will be able to thrive and innovate in the field of software development, while America struggles to have any meaningful development being done aside from the "big companies", who will hold a monopoly on software development in the US.
From a US perspective, the future of software development is effectively going to be a small number of US companies with a monopoly (through cross-licensing with each other) on software development in the US, versus a huge number of companies competing and innovating overseas in countries that do not have software patents.
If you're in the US and you're a programmer who isn't working for one of the biggest companies, don't count on keeping your job for more than another 5 or 10 years. The smart thing to do right now is find something else (not software development related) you can do, or be prepared to move overseas for a software development job.
US Peace-keeping force sent to Iran. Guantanamo Bay Hotel checks in new guests who are a bit unsure about exactly how long they will be staying for. US companies flock to Iraq to provide much-needed services. US citizens get first-class treatment with wonderful new voice-recognition systems. Terrorist suspect shot in subway before even getting a chance to plan the terror attack.
Is the PS2 that much better for kids than an Xbox? I imagine they both have some kids games, but the games are generally of poor quality.
I'd say Nintendo is the way to go if you want games for kids. Mario games appeal to players of any age, and kids tend to love Mario games. Mario games also tend to be excellent games.
No one buys oxygen, either, but the economy seems to be holding up okay despite that. Don't give yourself a migraine worrying about oxygen being free, will you?
It stops the people who buy on iTunes from creating mash-ups of the songs they purchased, and it prevents "just anyone" from selling their music on the accepted marketplace. (the iTunes Music Store)... those are the features of DRM that the music industry is truly interested in, despite their claims about it "preventing piracy".
Slashdot Mirror
No, no! The INNOCENT have nothing to hide. The government does.
That's a rather grim way of looking at things.
Very realistic, I might add...
It's not necessarily bullshit.
One could consider the DRM as a form of packaging. It is not the song itself, but something placed around the song. The DRM costs Apple money (CPU usage, initial and ongoing development), and Apple surely pass that cost onto Sony.
Similarly, when Apple changes the number of CDs a user can burn from 10 to 7, AFTER that user has already purchased the song, that could be considered a breakage from the point of view of a user, despite the fact that it was intentional. Surely Apple are forced to hand out some refunds to users because of a change like this, and so the "breakage" might also cost Sony money.
It depends on how they're going to be used. Like most things, they could be used for good or evil. It seems like the Australian one might end up being harmless, since it doesn't really contain any more information than our drivers licenses currently do. It is a waste of money, though, since we already have the drivers licenses, and special identity cards for people who do not drive.
The other thing to keep in mind with all of these cards is that if they're convenient for you, they're probably also convenient for identity thieves. You don't sound like you've ever become a victim of identity fraud, but it is something to keep in mind. You never know when you're going to lose your wallet or forget your "everything card"...
I would think that the best thing to do, in terms of security, would be spreading identity across multiple cards so that no card is all-powerful. It's a bit like not using the same password for every website.
I fully support Microsoft's anti-copying measures. I'd love to see them really lock up Windows updates so that only legitimate users can get access to them, or even better, I'd love to see them create a Windows and an Office that is too tough to crack.
I don't think all of the current Windows users are willing to pay for Windows, and if they are forced into doing it, there's a good chance they'll look elsewhere. Those that do decide to pay for Windows will also eventually be tempted by any alternative that has zero cost.
In trying to make all users pay for Windows, Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot, and I think they realise that they need illegitimate copying. Not too much, but not too little, either...
Every extra option during the installation increases the perceived level of complexity for typical (non-technical) users. That's undesirable. Ideally, users can pop in the CD, and click the "let the wizard handle the entire installation for me!" button. That's what the users want to be able to do. Reality isn't quite so simple, but wherever there is a somewhat reasonable default that can be used, it might be better to leave the options out of the installation.
As you pointed out, this isn't really a bad default setting. The only puzzling thing is that Microsoft claims home users and business users want different firewall settings, but that they're going with what the business users want in (presumably) all versions, despite the fact that they have versions aimed at home users and versions aimed at business users. That's just perculiar, though.
There are plenty of good reasons why Vista might suck, but this isn't really one of them.
The stupid part is that these phones can't interface with computers well. All I want is one of these fancy phones that will interface well with my Linux PC.
/photos and /videos, respectively.
These are the things I expect from a phone:
- Appears as a USB mass storage device.
- Data like contacts, messages, and so on should be stored as CSV files or some similar sort of text files. I want them editable in a text editor.
- Photos and videos stored in
- Photos and videos in common (and preferably patent-free) formats. PNG and Ogg Theora would suit me fine.
- Bluetooth.
- A C or C++ cross compiler.
I think the Nokia 770 might be perfect for me if only it was a phone. If anyone knows of a phone that can do some of those things (a bare minimum would be appearing as a mass storage device...) please let me know!
I also don't see why digital cameras and other devices shouldn't all appear as mass storage devices. It is ridiculous to require some crappy half-hearted software effort (that usually doesn't work) from phone companies.
Damn. That's a good one. In fact, it's probably closer to being true than anything else is. Oil would certainly have a better chance of funding terrorism than copyright violations ever would.
I agree. Most free software can also be run just fine on Windows, so it would be a good idea for any organisation switching to slowly replace each server with free software before migrating to Linux. Once everything is running free software on top of Windows, switching to Linux should be fairly painless.
I think your mention of this just drove up the traffic considerably. People will read your comment, then click the link.
Links to the various sites mentioned:
Xin
YouOS
eyeOS
goowy
Fold
Orca
... selling stuff DOES fund terrorism whenever the seller is a terrorist and is making a profit!
Teddy bears fund terrorism.
Books fund terrorism.
Chocolate funds terrorism.
Jewellery funds terrorism.
Cars fund terrorism.
Notice a pattern here? Business funds terrorism. If there was no money, then nothing could fund terrorism.
There is only one conclusion to draw from all this: Alberto Gonzales is a commie!
If all works were legally available for free, people would have to be rather stupid to pay terrorists for them, wouldn't they?
Suppose SOME of the population is informed about C, though. It is better to let A or B win with 60% of the votes than to let B win with close to 100% because this way C has a better chance in the next election. This is the way change works.
Even if you vote C and they don't get elected, the vote still made a difference because more people will see C as a viable option for the next election. If no one votes C, no one ever will, and that is undesirable for democracy.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 - 28 April 1945) led Italy from 1922 to 1943. He created a Fascist state through the use of state terror and propaganda. Using his charisma, total control of the media, and intimidation of political rivals, he disassembled the existing democratic government system.
... sound familiar?
I also find that argument extremely irritating. It's based on the "one person can't make a difference" philosophy, which is also wrong since every person DOES make a small difference.
Suppose there were three political parties. A is extremely evil, B is mildly evil, and C are the "good guys", but A and B have been raking in most of the votes for decades. The population knows that A and B are evil and that C is good, but in past elections, C has never come close to winning. Who should the population vote for?
If you follow the philosophy that "one person can't make a difference", then B will end up getting voted in, despite the entire population wanting C.
If everyone votes for the political party that best represents their interests, C will get voted in, despite each person only making a "small difference".
It's not that fucking hard to figure it out!
It's unlikely that learning a new language will help any Americans keep their jobs. The main thing that gets outsourced is software development, but America is sabotaging itself when it comes to software.
The fact that certain other parts of the world do not have software patents means that those areas of the world will be able to thrive and innovate in the field of software development, while America struggles to have any meaningful development being done aside from the "big companies", who will hold a monopoly on software development in the US.
From a US perspective, the future of software development is effectively going to be a small number of US companies with a monopoly (through cross-licensing with each other) on software development in the US, versus a huge number of companies competing and innovating overseas in countries that do not have software patents.
If you're in the US and you're a programmer who isn't working for one of the biggest companies, don't count on keeping your job for more than another 5 or 10 years. The smart thing to do right now is find something else (not software development related) you can do, or be prepared to move overseas for a software development job.
"Detection logic" sounds like one of them, what do you call thems... ALGORITHMS! Yeah, that's it. Ought to get a patent on that.
US Peace-keeping force sent to Iran.
Guantanamo Bay Hotel checks in new guests who are a bit unsure about exactly how long they will be staying for.
US companies flock to Iraq to provide much-needed services.
US citizens get first-class treatment with wonderful new voice-recognition systems.
Terrorist suspect shot in subway before even getting a chance to plan the terror attack.
No. They would ban account-holders for using HTML to hide the ads.
Sure, but I'd like to think that the economy doesn't rely on a single bunch of idiots. Maybe that's just wishful thinking...
Is the PS2 that much better for kids than an Xbox? I imagine they both have some kids games, but the games are generally of poor quality.
I'd say Nintendo is the way to go if you want games for kids. Mario games appeal to players of any age, and kids tend to love Mario games. Mario games also tend to be excellent games.
No one buys oxygen, either, but the economy seems to be holding up okay despite that. Don't give yourself a migraine worrying about oxygen being free, will you?
You raise excellent points.
Now, let us contact all other countries and get them to start their own studies about this exact same topic!!
It stops the people who buy on iTunes from creating mash-ups of the songs they purchased, and it prevents "just anyone" from selling their music on the accepted marketplace. (the iTunes Music Store) ... those are the features of DRM that the music industry is truly interested in, despite their claims about it "preventing piracy".