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Comment ColdFusion and Photoshop (Score 1) 520

For my part, I just hope that they don't do with ColdFusion what they did with Visual Fox Pro. It was a shame at the time and it would be the same now.

I also use Photoshop and Lightroom but they are cashcows and MS has nothing to compete against so I guess they will be safe for a while until Microsoft does a rewrite and completely FUBARs them.

Comment Re:Worry about app devs, not Microsoft or Google (Score 1) 199

The way I see it; Google is entirely entitled to make a profit, and a big one.

It all about my perception of what what they give back to the world for what they get in revenues.

The whole open-source comunity gives alot back for what they take.

A little higher in the scale would be Google. It's value in that regard is very high. Granted many of their tools and software are self serving; they are more than usefull and yes they bring rainbows into my life.

Microsoft does offer some value back but my perception is that it's alot less value for the money.

We can go on and Sun wold have been somewhere in the higher tier giving some value back to the world with Java, OpenOffice and MySql and some good boxes.

A little higher up the chain would be Oracle with their ridiculous enterprise software license that don't really score very high on the 'give back' scale and also for slowly killing off Sun's rainbows.

At the top of the chain, often invisible we have the patent trolls that make absolutely no efforts to give anything back but instead rake in billions by questionable means.

So Yes, for a Public, For Profit company; Google has alot to teach to everybody in terms of giving back good value. If people could follow this example and give back as much as they take; the world would be a better place... They are the ultimate torrent seeders as opposed to most other who are leechers.

Comment Conflict of interest... (Score 1) 281

From what I can see, Bell with its Bell TV satelite service has a lot to loose to Netflix as their Pay-Per-View @ 5.99$/film may suffer from Netflix's streaming (if available here) and could opt for a similar strategy and lower their monthly quota on their DSL access.

Videotron wich is a major cable operator and ISP and also the major owner/operator of video clubs is owned by Quebecor Media which also operate Archambault Music who sells DVDs. They, also, have a lot to loose to Netflix and may lower their monthly quota.

My plan with them was originaly unlimited and then they lowered it to 100gb/month so what's next?

Google

Google Tells Congress It Disclosed Wi-Fi Sniffing 123

theodp writes "While conceding 'it is clear there should have been greater transparency about the collection of this [Wi-Fi] data,' Google asserted 'we have provided public descriptions of our location-based services' in its written response to Congress (PDF) about whether the public had been adequately informed of its data collection efforts. To prove its point, Google's how-many-times-do-we-have-to-tell-you answer included a link to a blog entry on My Location on the desktop, an odd choice considering that Google is still less-than-clear about exactly what's being captured by the service ('When My Location is active, Toolbar will automatically send local network information (including, but not limited to, visible WiFi access points)'). Congress might also want to evaluate the transparency of this cute Google video, which assured the public of Street View's privacy safeguards, but gave no hint of the controversial Wi-Fi collection."

Comment Notable quote... (Score 1) 172

The whole judgment is a very good read and one notable quote is on paragraphs 75-76.

It says that Microsoft is also present in court to sustain the RRQ's (wrong) decision. Microsoft says it's in its best interest to be there since Savoir Faire Linux is asking for a reversal of the contract attributed to Microsoft.

Paragrah 76 adds that in fact Microsoft is in fact there to sustain its monopoly.

Court cases involving technology are often misunderstood by the judge but in this case it's refreshingly not the case.

United States

Bill Gives Feds "Emergency" Powers To Secure Civilian Nets 505

ziani writes "Joe Lieberman wants to give the federal government the power to take over civilian networks' security if there's an 'imminent cyber threat.' From the article: 'Lieberman and Collins' solution is one of the more far-reaching proposals. In the Senators' draft bill, "the President may issue a declaration of an imminent cyber threat to covered critical infrastructure." Once such a declaration is made, the director of a DHS National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications is supposed to "develop and coordinate emergency measures or actions necessary to preserve the reliable operation, and mitigate or remediate the consequences of the potential disruption, of covered critical infrastructure."'"

Comment Other reasons for downloading... (Score 1) 861

I didn't go the the movies to see the film but when it came out on DVD I decided to rent it. So here I was at home with my girlfriend ready to watch it.

I live in Québec and speak french most of the time but there's no way in hell I will watch a french translated movie especially when the original language is English. ...I put the movie in the DVD player only to realize that the only language on the DVD is french. 99.999% of all movies on DVD here in Québec have at least french and English available but not this one.

The stupid company who distribute the movie in Canada (Maple Pictures) has put out two versions of the DVD in each language and all the video clubs I went to had only the french version available.

BTW; Maple Picture is the company who put DVD sets of 'The Dead Zone' with episodes in the wrong order and missing episodes. They refused to correct the problems and these sets are still available today at Wal-Mart with a notice that client see only after opening the shrink wrap..

Anyways, granted I should have read the DVD cover better, I decided to download the torrent since I felt cheated out of my English version... I don't really feel bad for what I did.

Comment Patents... (Score 1) 253

Thant article is almost a patent application.

He should be awarded a retroactive unnecessary broad patent for everything wireless. Software and Hardware. We should also find a way to slip some video CODEC info into that patent.

That patent would have expired by now and it should neuter most trolls of today...

XBox (Games)

Modded Xbox Bans Prompt EFF Warning About Terms of Service 254

Last month we discussed news that Microsoft had banned hundreds of thousands of Xbox users for using modified consoles. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has now pointed to this round of bans as a prime example of the power given to providers of online services through 'Terms of Service' and other usage agreements. "No matter how much we rely on them to get on with our everyday lives, access to online services — like email, social networking sites, and (wait for it) online gaming — can never be guaranteed. ... he who writes the TOS makes the rules, and when it comes to enforcing them, the service provider often behaves as though it is also the judge, jury and executioner. ... While the mass ban provides a useful illustration of their danger, these terms can be found in nearly all TOS agreements for all kinds of services. There have been virtually no legal challenges to these kinds of arbitrary termination clauses, but we imagine this will be a growth area for lawyers."
The Internet

Cisco, Motorola, and Other Companies Take Aim At Net Neutrality Rules 239

angry tapir writes "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced last month that he would seek to develop formal rules prohibiting Internet service providers from selectively blocking or slowing Web content and applications. However, 44 companies — including Cisco Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, Corning, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia — have sent a letter to the FCC saying new regulations could hinder the development of the Internet. A group of 18 Republican US senators have also sent a letter to Genachowski raising concerns about net neutrality regulations."
Power

Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed 444

pickens writes "Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes are an attractive proposition for many applications because the isotopes that power them can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times as high as standard batteries. Nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years, their large size has limited their general usage. But now a research team at the University of Missouri has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. The researchers' innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also that the batteries use a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. 'The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,' says Jae Wan Kwon. 'By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.' The batteries are safe under normal operating conditions. 'People hear the word "nuclear" and think of something very dangerous,' says Kwon. 'However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites, and underwater systems.'"

Submission + - Record companies claim that Ellen DeGeneres show i

QuebecNerd writes: "In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, record execs claim "they have never received a single penny for the hundreds of songs Ellen's danced to over the years". They say that the show is worse than napster at stealing music.

See also this story and this one.

Certainly if she has 1/10th of Oprah's power, dancing to their songs helped them over the years!"

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