ConceptJunkie 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (235) comment rss

  • On the post: RNC To Sue CafePress For Helping People Promote Republican Candidates

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2008 @ 08:05am

    Re: moron alert

    You must be thinking of some fairy-tale country founded in the dark ages of the 18th century. This is America, of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.

  • On the post: RNC To Sue CafePress For Helping People Promote Republican Candidates

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2008 @ 08:03am

    Re:

    And childish, ad hominem, blanket statements like yours confirm what my heart says too.

  • On the post: Rep. Culberson Finally Admits The Problem Is The Existing House Rules

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2008 @ 12:34pm

    Never happen...

    > It would be nice if they stayed that way so we could focus on the actual issues, rather than flinging mud at political opponents.

    But then our legislators might have to admit they have no idea what they are doing. Making people angry and scared is all they know how to do effectively.

  • On the post: Lyle Lovett: Albums Sold? 4.6 Million. Money Made From Album Sales? $0

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2008 @ 12:21pm

    Re: Re: too bad

    Funny, 99% of the music I buy is by the album (individual tracks make up about 80 of the 13000 or so tracks I own copies of, mostly from CD, but also from eMusic and Mindawn).

    I guess the difference is finding artists who don't suck.

    The per track model is a valid one however, and it justly punishes those marginal artists who can create one "hit" and pad the CD out with filler. However, the recording industry is still refusing to adapt to a changing world. Fortunately, the asteroid hit about 10 years ago and the dinosaurs don't have much left time to live.

  • On the post: Supreme Court Decision On Guns May Cut Promoting Progress Out Of The Constitution

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2008 @ 05:12pm

    Thank you

    Mr. Brewer:

    Finally, there is someone that can actually read and understand plain English. I appreciate you writing what I was going to write, and saving me the trouble.

    It just goes to show the level of utter degeneracy of our education system that people cannot read these plain simple sentences and actually interpret them correctly.

    I fear for a country populated by people who can neither comprehend simple language nor simple logic. I appreciate your concise explanation as much as I am disgusted that so few people apparently could have created it.

    Rick

  • On the post: You Thought You Hated Windows? Check Out What Bill Gates Had To Say

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 25 Jun, 2008 @ 03:09pm

    Re: There is a reason Vista is crap.

    Vista's only purpose to set the stage for further lock-in and more control of Microsoft over what you can and cannot do with your computer. Vista only serves Microsoft's purposes and does nothing for users.

  • On the post: You Thought You Hated Windows? Check Out What Bill Gates Had To Say

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 25 Jun, 2008 @ 03:07pm

    Re: Re: There is a reason Vista is crap.

    Their response was that I could not buy a computer without Windows VISTA.

    This is what we, in a sane world, would call a monopoly. Your opitons for buying a non-Mac without that steaming turd of an OS are extremely limited. It's the only reason Microsoft can brag about Windows sales: they are forcing it on you whether you want it or not.

    But it's obvious that the government doesn't care, so Microsoft's inevitable decline will drag the whole PC industry down with it. At this point, they are more of a spoiler than anything else, trying to damage as much as possible in a vain attempt to maintain their unfair market position.

  • On the post: Nokia Exec To Developers: Embrace DRM & Digital Locks Because I Say So

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 18 Jun, 2008 @ 10:39am

    Why do we need Nokia?

    We don't.

    Come back when you're ready to play in the Open Source world by _its_ rules.

    HAND.

  • On the post: What's Wrong With Putting A Fake Ad In A Newspaper?

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2008 @ 01:04pm

    Well, at least you can't say...

    They're just a bunch of fat, stupid Americans.

    Skinny and stupid, sure.

  • On the post: Another Way To Get Around TiVo Users Fast Forwarding: Really Interrupt Your Shows With Ads

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2008 @ 12:32pm

    Re:

    Because football is usually more boring than watching paint dry?

  • On the post: Phorm Did Track IP Addresses, Replaced Charity Ads With Behavioral Ads

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2008 @ 07:41am

    Re: How would this work?

    No one should ever have to ask that specific question because no one should ever have to deal with hidden behavioral advertising.

    So who even sees advertising any more? Oh, I guess it's those 80% of people too powerless or ignorant to move away from Internet Explorer. Their loss.

    And before a bunch of you whine in shrill voices about how advertising is the backbone of the Internet, I will respond that it's not my responsibility to support someone else's flawed business model. If advertising eventually collapses (and I believe it will in the next decade), I will happily either pay for content or do without.

  • On the post: Microsoft Demanding Some Of Immersion's Patent Booty From Sony

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 30 May, 2008 @ 07:30pm

    Immersion == Patent Trolls

    Immersion's only reason for existing is to acquire patents they didn't invent and sue people. That's it.

    In this situation, I would actually root for Microsoft (and Sony, of course) because while Microsoft plays the patent game defensively, because they have to just like everyone else, they have not abused that system, which is the sole reason Immersion exists.

    Heh. I just realized I'm not only defending Microsoft, but giving them credit for not doing something evil. Wow! That sure is a blue moon. And whadaya know? There's a guy in a red suit with a pitchfork... and he's shivering...

    (However, I will call Microsoft out on their extremely evil FUD campaign to imply they will attack Linux on patent grounds... and they may yet do so, even though they haven't yet.)

  • On the post: EA To Use Controversial Internet-Required DRM On New Games

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 08 May, 2008 @ 12:34pm

    I don't even bother buying games any more...

    ... and DRM is #1 reason. Software would work a whole lot better if half the industry weren't hell bent on developing ever more draconian ways to _keep_ it from working.

  • On the post: A Hostile Microsoft Bid For Yahoo! Would Likely Be A Pyrrhic Victory

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 01 May, 2008 @ 08:03am

    Re: Re: Great

    It is likely to be good for Google who would certainly profit from the exodus of engineering types unwilling to work for the chair-throwing monkeyboy.

  • On the post: A Hostile Microsoft Bid For Yahoo! Would Likely Be A Pyrrhic Victory

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 01 May, 2008 @ 08:00am

    Re:

    1. Yes, Microsoft should focus on doing one kind of thing well since right now they are doing a whole bunch of things poorly. The problem is that their sources of revenue are drying up and they are more and more being forced to come up with more and more heavy-handed ways of extending them.

    2. EASILY scales? Like Linux? It runs on anything from watches to supercomputers. I'd love to see a Windows OS (or technically, kernel) that could do that, but we'll probably never see it.

    3. Microsoft has always been years behind on Internet technologies from the get-go. It is only be sheer dint of them being able to throw insane amounts of money at any problem that they have made any headway whatsoever since they have consistently been late to every party on the Web.

    4. I'm not so sure this would have any effect (as I said with the DoJ was threatening it). Clearly the left hand already has no idea what the right hand is doing and Microsoft is already dozens, if not hundreds, of little companies with little real integration and no overarching vision. Having to pull XP SP3 at the last minute for one of their own apps is just the most recent of a plethora of examples of this. And let's face it, this would eliminate the last vestiges of their unfair competition by undocumented features, which while greatly diminished from the Bad Old Days, still goes on. Microsoft would much rather be a bully and a cheat than compete on a level playing field, even when it's likely they could actually do well at it.

  • On the post: Bill Gates Claims Open Source Means Nobody Can Improve Software

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2008 @ 02:34pm

    Re:

    >situation almost inconceivable for GLP-type projects.

    I guess you've never used Firefox or Thunderbird or any of a thousand OSS packages that are as good or better than their commercial counterparts.

    Your blanket statement may have been true 10 years ago, but my non-techie wife can use Ubuntu and be just as productive as with Windows.

    Oh, and it's "GPL". People might take you more seriously if you can at least spell the acronym correctly.

  • On the post: Bill Gates Claims Open Source Means Nobody Can Improve Software

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2008 @ 02:30pm

    Re: Talk only about what you know.

    _His_ company may not be capable of improving software, but in no way can it be claimed that OSS is stifled becuase of the GPL. OSS, as a whole, has improved more in the last year than Microsoft's products have since Windows XP shipped.

    Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Microsoft are still angry that they can't just sit back and collect revenue forever without lifting a finger, and they know they can't compete in terms of quality (if they ever could) so they are stuck propping up the sagging remains of their fading, but still powerful monopoly. Microsoft stopped being a software company a decade ago, they have been a "monopoly company" ever since. It's the only way they can survive.

  • On the post: The Way To Beat Scrabulous Is Not With Lawsuits Or Crappy Versions Of Scrabble

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2008 @ 07:01pm

    Typical corporate thinking...

    That's so typical of corporate thinking. They'd rather lose money and good will than make a deal for something Not Invented Here. Of course if they were Microsoft or Corel, they'd probably just acquire Scrabulous and ruin it anyway.

  • On the post: Yoko Ono Clarifies Lennon Trademark Dispute

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2008 @ 08:28am

    Re: Fewer.

    Is your name ironic on purpose or did you just make yourself look like a complete idiot?

  • On the post: Hasbro Sues Scrabulous For Being Too Scrabble-ish

    ConceptJunkie ( profile ), 14 Jan, 2008 @ 04:25am

    Re: Its very disappointing.

    No one owns the copyright to chess. The game's been around for hundreds of years. It's really pretty simple.

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