a) Virgin aren't spying on their users - in fact, the BPI are taking people's IP addresses from BitTorrent swarms (freely available to anybody), matching them up to known Virgin media IP blocks (freely available to anybody) then sending those IPs to Virgin who mail the offending user. Virgin do not tell the BPI who you are or where you live because that would be an enormous breach of the DPA.
b) Your basic freedoms cannot be impinged upon by a company, only by governments. You can still go out into the street and shout your opinions to the rooftops if you want.
c) Downloading music for free is not a basic freedom.
d) Using the internet is not a basic freedom.
Where the summary got all that horsemanure about right to assembly, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, I have no idea - because it has no bearing or relevance to the topic at hand. At the very least you can point out that only one of those freedoms exists in the UK.
Another flamebait Slashdot summary successfully baits someone into ranting about something incidental to the real point. Kudos.
On the flip side of your evidence, we've just started an RPG group here, and none of the members have Linux or Macs. It's a dead on 50/50 split between XP and Vista.
I revised my figures in my second post. Anyway, if you honestly think that the difference between 6% and 8% is completely critical to my point, then I don't think you understood it.
I love the fact that everyone's playing the numbers game and trying to ignore the real issue - Mac and Linux is a tiny market for games.
I would say that the young and generally better than averagely educated demographic that make up D&D players is going to have a much greater proportion of Linux and Mac users. Do you have any figures to back that up?
Secondly, it is a group activity, so whilst 4 out of 5 potential customers might be Windows users, it is still a big problem if one or two members of a group are not. When you need everyone in a group to be a Windows user, then suddenly that four out of five statistic looks like a serious issue. It's currently just over 4.5 out of 5. When you use the actual proportion of users it doesn't look quite as clear cut as you'd like it to be.
Windows isn't going away in this year, but uptake of rival OS's is rising The difference amounts to around percentage point or two over the last year, and that's pretty much all to Macs. Linux has gone from 0.4% to 0.6%, Mac up to 7%.
Fourthly is the assumption that you make about the cost of porting their product to other OS's. A cursory analysis would show that the costs of porting to Mac, or starting with a cross-platform solution, would have to be no more than 7% higher in order to be viable, which I don't find very likely.
It's a shame they didn't consult me, eh? I'm sure they're kicking themselves.
Why is it a bad move? They would have to decide whether reaching another 6% of the audience is worth however much they'd have to spend porting their product. I would wager that they realised that it would cost far more to make it available for Mac and Linux than they'd ever get in sales.
Worst for me though are laptop keyboards - stupidly tiny keys that don't ever seem to have the tactile response I like from a keyboard, no matter which brand I use. I also tend to get my fingers confused when there's no numpad.
Here is the original article from Microsoft, most of it is an ad for thier products. What, you mean the one line that says "Microsoft led the way in ergonomic design, having introduced the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard in 1994, and more recently the Natural Wireless Mouse 6000"?
How on earth did that transform to 'most of the article' when you decided to point it out?
Considering that link says that it's security flaws that have already been fixed that are being targeted, I don't see how that fits what I was asking you for.
As such, Twitter, I'm still waiting. Have to say, kudos for having the balls to reply to me with the username that you copied from mine. I like how you post at -1 with it - that plan really backfired for you, huh?
I'm not Twitter Yeah, you are. I'll also mention that I found the two anonymous posts you put on one article on the Register. I'm yet to find anyone who can write "Windoze" with quite the same amount of smug venom as you.
Seriously, this logic reminds me of the scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail where they determine that a woman is a witch because she's 'made of wood'. In their defense, it was a fair cop.
No offence, but if you can't have fun without your phone, then I feel sorry for you. I'd like to cause severe offence. If someone can't have fun without their phone, they have a severe problem and they might want to seek professional help.
I know this is Slashdot and this might be the wrong place to say this, but is technology really so crucial that a life could be devoid of happiness without it?
You'll note that all the transactions he's noted are marked 'Pre-Authorisation'. That means that Microsoft never took any money in the first place. He just has to wait until the bank frees it up again.
Slashdot Mirror
It's hyperbole and bullshit because:-
a) Virgin aren't spying on their users - in fact, the BPI are taking people's IP addresses from BitTorrent swarms (freely available to anybody), matching them up to known Virgin media IP blocks (freely available to anybody) then sending those IPs to Virgin who mail the offending user. Virgin do not tell the BPI who you are or where you live because that would be an enormous breach of the DPA.
b) Your basic freedoms cannot be impinged upon by a company, only by governments. You can still go out into the street and shout your opinions to the rooftops if you want.
c) Downloading music for free is not a basic freedom.
d) Using the internet is not a basic freedom.
Where the summary got all that horsemanure about right to assembly, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, I have no idea - because it has no bearing or relevance to the topic at hand. At the very least you can point out that only one of those freedoms exists in the UK.
Another flamebait Slashdot summary successfully baits someone into ranting about something incidental to the real point. Kudos.
On the flip side of your evidence, we've just started an RPG group here, and none of the members have Linux or Macs. It's a dead on 50/50 split between XP and Vista.
I revised my figures in my second post. Anyway, if you honestly think that the difference between 6% and 8% is completely critical to my point, then I don't think you understood it.
I love the fact that everyone's playing the numbers game and trying to ignore the real issue - Mac and Linux is a tiny market for games.
Have a screenshot from the actual application. Please give me a way that you could produce something like that in a web application.
Here.
Anything else?
Why is it a bad move? They would have to decide whether reaching another 6% of the audience is worth however much they'd have to spend porting their product. I would wager that they realised that it would cost far more to make it available for Mac and Linux than they'd ever get in sales.
Sounds like a pretty good move, to me.
I don't see any reason why the machines need to be connected to the net, or why the images can't be transmitted via inaccessible wiring.
That's such a beautifully framed piece of paranoia that I don't know whether to laugh, cry or do both.
It's complete horseshit, of course, but still funny.
I actually agree with you.
Worst for me though are laptop keyboards - stupidly tiny keys that don't ever seem to have the tactile response I like from a keyboard, no matter which brand I use. I also tend to get my fingers confused when there's no numpad.
How on earth did that transform to 'most of the article' when you decided to point it out?
I would have summarised like this:
- IE7 not standards compliant
- Slashdot posts article complaining
- IE8 standards compliant but not by default
- Slashdot posts article complaining
- IE8 standards compliant by default
- Slashdot... posts article complaining
I can only echo your sighing...
Yet another stupid lie from Twitter - shock horror indeed.
Considering that link says that it's security flaws that have already been fixed that are being targeted, I don't see how that fits what I was asking you for.
As such, Twitter, I'm still waiting. Have to say, kudos for having the balls to reply to me with the username that you copied from mine. I like how you post at -1 with it - that plan really backfired for you, huh?
You're supposed to switch sockpuppets before you reply to yourself, Twitter.
Such a basic mistake... I thought that the multiple accounts game was "dreadfully easy"?
Still waiting, and I know that's still you Twitter.
Trust me.
As much of a story as "Ignorant Slashdot user posts irrelevent comment without reading the article".
Feel free to start listing them now. I'll let you know how many of them still work.
When you see 5 comments in a row from the same person, then someone else adds one pointing this out, who is causing the bulk of the disruption?
Fair point. It would serve me well to remember that there are other countries and I don't know the full extent of copyright in them.
I know this is Slashdot and this might be the wrong place to say this, but is technology really so crucial that a life could be devoid of happiness without it?
Nice straw man - who said anything about perpetual? Copyright isn't perpetual. The GP didn't mention perpetual either.
Actually, it's not. I was wrong about this to.
You'll note that all the transactions he's noted are marked 'Pre-Authorisation'. That means that Microsoft never took any money in the first place. He just has to wait until the bank frees it up again.