damned if you don't. There was no easy answer. Either they put out an unfinished game or they take the time to do it right. Kudos for taking the time to do it right.
"If in EITHER of these cases, Random Joe comes in and uses any of these creative resources (the models, sets, props, actors) and makes an entertainment product and sells it... What do you call that?"
I think it's called "fair use."
The stupidity becomes obvious when you put it in common terms away from technology.
Bank robbers are always making their getaways on public roads. So, in order to protect against said robbers, every car that travels on every road must be recorded. Does the government see this as a reasonable request for their resources? Should the government be held responsible for the illegal use of its roads?
Stealing is fine for single player games. Unfortunately, thieving is a huge grief mechanic in multiplayer games. It goes all the way back to the death robed thieves hanging out near the bank in Ultima Online.
Does it benefit the customer? No. Odds are the customer is not going to get a new release in the timeframe of the agreement.
Does it benefit Microsoft? Yes. The customer is paying Microsoft for something Microsoft is not obligated to deliver... ever. Previously, Microsoft had to bring out a new product to make money and the quicker the better. With software assurance, they can take their sweet time about it with customers still paying them money.
Kudos to Microsoft for finding another way of making money by doing nothing.
It's not a question of ownership at all. You are using a service. If you don't abide by the terms of the service, your service is terminated. That's how things work for the players.
For the company making WoWGlider, it's a different story. I think Blizzard is probably using the wrong legal argument to go after the enabling company, but that's how lawsuits work. You shotgun everything you can think of and hope a few pellets hit the target.
For me it's not so much the privacy issue as who uses the video and why. In an ideal world, you trust that this video is not going to be used for anything other than it's intended purpose, but you also know that's a pipedream.
"Imagine this were some failed Microsoft product - would the OSS community all start bouncing on their chairs clammering to take it over and give up on this 'Linux thing'?"
It's like trying to imagine the sun not coming up tomorrow. It may happen sometime, but you are never going to see it.
And don't call me "Shirley!"
"I want to be snarky and point out that this guy obviously has no idea how these games are designed,"
You might want to reconsider that statement. Turbine did monthly content installments with AC1, which included content much like what the author mentions, including the complete destruction of a major city (as in "smoking crater").
While I have not seen another mmorpg do it, one did, so it can be done.
The appropriate thing for Microsoft to do is indicate to Linux developers where the offending code can be found so that it can be remove (if indeed it does infringe). Microsoft has chosen the same route that SCO did. They don't want you to remove the code and remedy the problem. They want you to pay.
Microsoft? No, it just cost Microsoft some chump change for more FUD and a chance to destroy every commercial linux effort.
Novell? Definately. Remember that this covenant is supposed to be with SUSE users and not Novell. What's to keep Microsoft from suing Novell after the dust clears? Nothing ("Microsoft commits to a covenant not to assert its patents against Novell's end-user customers").
Novell's customers? Yes and no. It's good right up to the point that Microsoft decides it's no longer convenient to prop up Novell.
OK, so you have to make the device smaller. Big deal. That's a year or two. Meanwhile, you can work out the rest of the details.
How about training purposes? You throw a pilot trainee in a simulator and see what he was looking at during the run. Did he look at the wrong indicators when things turned bad? Was he busy admiring the upholstery when the bandit snuck in on his 6? What did he look at to verify a friendly? After you work everything out on trainers, why not give it to real pilots for the same purpose? Used with object recognition, it also serves a nice "tell-me-what-I'm-looking-at" function with oh so many military applications here.
The EFF wants to see the pirates as some sort of radical movement trying to "stick it to the man." He's wrong. It's just a matter of money. The real pirates are packaging it and selling it all over Asia, and the kids are just watching something on a laptop they probably wouldn't see otherwise and deleting it when they're done.
The MPAA wants to think they are the champion of the hard-working people in the industry (seen the ads about it at a movie lately?). Who really gets the money? The actors? (laugh) The director? (laugh) The writer? (more laughter) The bestboy or keygrip? (huge guffaw) I'm guessing it's the studio. By the same token, who greenlights those $200 million flops and why should we pay for the studios' mistakes? If the studios offered a value-priced, quality movie over the Internet, I think you wouldn't see much piracy, certainly not what you see now. As it stands, the movie industry is pricing themselves out of the market, and using piracy as a scapegoat for their own failure.
If people are going to talk about GURPS, I have to throw in my obligatory comment about Hero Games and the Hero System (what GURPS should have been). Many of you probably know the Champions superhero rpg, but Hero Games covers the spectrum of rpgs (similar to GURPS).
There's nothing like a game system that lets you knock bad guys completely through brick walls.;)
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damned if you don't. There was no easy answer. Either they put out an unfinished game or they take the time to do it right. Kudos for taking the time to do it right.
"If in EITHER of these cases, Random Joe comes in and uses any of these creative resources (the models, sets, props, actors) and makes an entertainment product and sells it... What do you call that?" I think it's called "fair use."
The stupidity becomes obvious when you put it in common terms away from technology. Bank robbers are always making their getaways on public roads. So, in order to protect against said robbers, every car that travels on every road must be recorded. Does the government see this as a reasonable request for their resources? Should the government be held responsible for the illegal use of its roads?
Stealing is fine for single player games. Unfortunately, thieving is a huge grief mechanic in multiplayer games. It goes all the way back to the death robed thieves hanging out near the bank in Ultima Online.
And then there was Atari... also a Trammel company.
Does it benefit the customer? No. Odds are the customer is not going to get a new release in the timeframe of the agreement. Does it benefit Microsoft? Yes. The customer is paying Microsoft for something Microsoft is not obligated to deliver... ever. Previously, Microsoft had to bring out a new product to make money and the quicker the better. With software assurance, they can take their sweet time about it with customers still paying them money. Kudos to Microsoft for finding another way of making money by doing nothing.
Sorry, I can't help but think of Half-Life2 when I see articles like these. ;)
Or maybe they'll eventually get people to understand that Warhammer is the original and Warcraft is the copy.
It's not a question of ownership at all. You are using a service. If you don't abide by the terms of the service, your service is terminated. That's how things work for the players. For the company making WoWGlider, it's a different story. I think Blizzard is probably using the wrong legal argument to go after the enabling company, but that's how lawsuits work. You shotgun everything you can think of and hope a few pellets hit the target.
Here's another story about it on CNet.
r t/2100-1046_3-6165425.html?tag=html.alert
http://news.com.com/Photoshop+gets+HD+Photo+suppo
For me it's not so much the privacy issue as who uses the video and why. In an ideal world, you trust that this video is not going to be used for anything other than it's intended purpose, but you also know that's a pipedream.
"Imagine this were some failed Microsoft product - would the OSS community all start bouncing on their chairs clammering to take it over and give up on this 'Linux thing'?" It's like trying to imagine the sun not coming up tomorrow. It may happen sometime, but you are never going to see it. And don't call me "Shirley!"
"I want to be snarky and point out that this guy obviously has no idea how these games are designed," You might want to reconsider that statement. Turbine did monthly content installments with AC1, which included content much like what the author mentions, including the complete destruction of a major city (as in "smoking crater"). While I have not seen another mmorpg do it, one did, so it can be done.
The appropriate thing for Microsoft to do is indicate to Linux developers where the offending code can be found so that it can be remove (if indeed it does infringe). Microsoft has chosen the same route that SCO did. They don't want you to remove the code and remedy the problem. They want you to pay.
Really bad for who?
Microsoft? No, it just cost Microsoft some chump change for more FUD and a chance to destroy every commercial linux effort.
Novell? Definately. Remember that this covenant is supposed to be with SUSE users and not Novell. What's to keep Microsoft from suing Novell after the dust clears? Nothing ("Microsoft commits to a covenant not to assert its patents against Novell's end-user customers").
Novell's customers? Yes and no. It's good right up to the point that Microsoft decides it's no longer convenient to prop up Novell.
This is something I might actually want Jack Thompson to get involved in... think of the children!
Real men play Angband (originally Mines of Moria). ;)
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It played better on an Atari 800. Those had 4 joystick ports so you could have 4 human players.
The idea that Warhammer Online is a rip-off of WoW is too funny. Unfortunately, most people won't know or care which game came first.
Yeah, but I heard they got rid of a bunch of that stuff in Holy Man 2: New Testament... nothing good up until the final level, Revelations. ;)
OK, so you have to make the device smaller. Big deal. That's a year or two. Meanwhile, you can work out the rest of the details. How about training purposes? You throw a pilot trainee in a simulator and see what he was looking at during the run. Did he look at the wrong indicators when things turned bad? Was he busy admiring the upholstery when the bandit snuck in on his 6? What did he look at to verify a friendly? After you work everything out on trainers, why not give it to real pilots for the same purpose? Used with object recognition, it also serves a nice "tell-me-what-I'm-looking-at" function with oh so many military applications here.
The EFF wants to see the pirates as some sort of radical movement trying to "stick it to the man." He's wrong. It's just a matter of money. The real pirates are packaging it and selling it all over Asia, and the kids are just watching something on a laptop they probably wouldn't see otherwise and deleting it when they're done.
The MPAA wants to think they are the champion of the hard-working people in the industry (seen the ads about it at a movie lately?). Who really gets the money? The actors? (laugh) The director? (laugh) The writer? (more laughter) The bestboy or keygrip? (huge guffaw) I'm guessing it's the studio. By the same token, who greenlights those $200 million flops and why should we pay for the studios' mistakes? If the studios offered a value-priced, quality movie over the Internet, I think you wouldn't see much piracy, certainly not what you see now. As it stands, the movie industry is pricing themselves out of the market, and using piracy as a scapegoat for their own failure.
More like Metallica. ;)
"Beer good! Fire bad!"
If people are going to talk about GURPS, I have to throw in my obligatory comment about Hero Games and the Hero System (what GURPS should have been). Many of you probably know the Champions superhero rpg, but Hero Games covers the spectrum of rpgs (similar to GURPS). There's nothing like a game system that lets you knock bad guys completely through brick walls. ;)