But where were we ever told that it would be a DRM free digitial download?

I'm a backer. I never saw any mention of it being a DRM free digital download. I have access to be backers website, I read all of the comments on kickstarted by Rob and his team. No-one ever said that it would be DRM free.

As far as I'm concerned, they delivered the promised download, they met the conditions.

I'm a backer of the Veroncia Mars movie.

I was hoping that a movie would be made, of at leave direct-to-video quality. If it didn't get make, then, oh well, it was worth the shot.

It's not like I committed as much as the founder of XE.com, who paid $10,000 for a speaking part in the movie. (Although he could probably afford his $10k as much as I could my $40.)

Geek rage is right. People here are getting all worked up over something that probably doesn't affect them. I suppose some people just like getting upset at big media companies.

I'm a backer. Is anyone else here an actual backer? I pledged enough to get a digital download. I never expected it to be a DRM free version. The fact that I can download it to my Nexus 7 is a bonus further than I was expecting. When I signed up, I was thinking they were probably only going to deliver a MS Windows only version - after all the project is being run by a director/producer, and not a tech head.

And am I upset with the digital download? No. Totally DRM free would have been great, but it's not something that I expected.

Right, so, as a backer, what did I actually expect for my money? I donated money to have the chance to see a Veronica Mars movie that would have been on a cheap budget and a direct-to-video quality production.

What did I get? I got a move that is really like a cinema quality release movie. That's more than I hoped for. I also got a t-shirt, stickers, the script, a DVD, and a digital download. All of that for half the cost of a AAA game title.

Heck, I'm over the moon.

And what else did I get for being a backer? I got sense of ownership of the movie and the whole creation process. It was a fun journey.

Also, for any of you non-backers that have decided to download the movie, well, I'm a bit disappointed that you're interested enough to have a look, but it would have been nice if you could have contributed someway. Maybe if you like the movie, try to make it one of the most pirated movie around at the moment. With more interest, maybe there can be a second Veronica Mars movie.

What non-backers don't appear to know is that Rob was restricted by the studios and the agreements with the cinemas on how he could allow the digital downloads. To get a movie in the cinemas, at the same time as being available for download is the first time this has happened (as far as I know). The studios and cinema owners normally never allow this.

One final thing. Even though the kickstart paid for the production of the movie, the studio covered the cost of the kickstarter rewards and also the (little) promotion that went on. So I can understand why the studio wants to keep control as much as they want over the distribution.

Once the classic interface goes and I'm forced to use beta, then I'd be looking around for another site to read.

So, if you start something up in a few months, I'd have a look.

If slashdot doesn't commit beta suicide, then I'll hang around here.

I didn't. I was in school in the unfortunate period when new math appeared, and it was decided that grammar was too confusing and didn't need to be taught. This made learning French more difficult, and I had to first learn what the tense was in English.

I curse the people who decided to change English teaching to stop being about the language and into making up stuff about what an author could have thought, but maybe didn't - and if you don't agree with your teacher on what the 'correct' made up stuff was, then you were in trouble.

It's same same everywhere. I think it comes down to cost, cheaper costs equals crappy subtitles. Even French TV shows, in French, made in France have subtitles that don't match what's being said. The only times when I've seen good quality subtitles is when it's with an expensive big-budget movie (French or US).

I don't live in France, but I sometimes do my weekly shopping there. Every time when I use a foreign card that only uses a 4 digit pin but the machine accepts 6 digits, I've been able to enter in only the 4 digits, hit ok, and it works.

Also missing:

_ All of the above

After all, it's not like we have any say in it anyway.

I don't think asking "Pretty please NSA, don't spy on me." is going to have any effect..... unless you're a friendly head of state who has already caught them out, so that's only good for a few people....

Sure they do, just set up pre-known phrases in advance, and you don't even to need encryption
e.g.
John is starting a new job => Akmed has sourced the fissile material

Jane is expecting the baby in July => The bomb will be on the ship making port in July.

There you go. They're only doing their job. The need to keep track of anyone who is named John or Jane, or anyone who speaks to any John or Jane, anyone who is having a baby, or anyone who knows anyone having a baby.

Everyone can have whatever they want, yes... but it doesn't mean that everything has to be harmonious. No large inter-group disagreement is possible? Maybe some significant section want to break away.....

Ok, I'm not a good writer, but Banks was, and I'm sure that he could have some up with something interesting that exposes more of the workings of the Culture.

It just makes me feel a little sad that there is no chance that there will be any more Culture novels.

They were my thoughts exactly.

I only discovered him about 5 years ago, and I was looking forward for many more years of Culture novels. I thought there was a lot more he could still explore in that universe.

One thing I would have like to have seen is something that was more focused on things happening inside the Culture and their society. Most of the times he spends some setup time in the Culture, then whips off to the edge of their space to deal with some other civilization. I wanted to learn more about the workings of the Culture.

I guess now I'll never know....

Too right. My car doesn't have power steering, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you've never driven a modern car without power steering (which in reality is fairly rare), then you're unaware that you get a lot of extra feel on what is happening to the front tyres - are they starting to slip, is the road surface rough or bumpy, ...

When I drive a car with power steering, it feels like driving a boat.

Well, I remember the Russell Street bombing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Street_Bombing/

It was back in 1986, so that was quite a while ago. I can't remember any others though, so 1 is pretty close to 0, except for Angela Taylor.

Well, you know what it has done?

It's given Yahoo exposure everywhere, here on slashdot, and every web media news source I've seen - BBC, CNN, even newspapers down in Australia.

Now, is it $30 million worth of raising their profile? Maybe not, but it does let a lot of people know that Yahoo are going things, and this is far more (positive) exposure than they had before Mayer took control.

For sure, it's responsible to any country that it can be successfully sued from.

After all, it's just a company, being on the internet doesn't make it any different. It's like saying that all of those silly patents that replicate existing procedures are suddenly different and patentable because they do it on the computer.

If the court system in a country can sue and get the ability to enforce a judgement, then the company is responsible to that country. If the share holders don't lose any money, then there's no problem.