Note to Sony lawyers: no doubt you're eager to rack up another billable hour by sending legal threats to me and my university. Before you go down that unhappy road, check out what happened the last time a large corporation tried to stop the mirroring of technical information here: The Gallery of CSS Descramblers. Have you learned anything in ten years?
David S. Touretzky
Research Professor of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
> Would you buy an oven if there was a big label that said "IT IS ILLEGAL TO USE THIS OVEN FOR BROWNIES; ALL BROWNIE BAKERS WILL BE PROSECUTED"? Do you think laws that allow that kind of thing are good? Remember, this isn't a rented oven, you bought the whole thing outright. It depends. Did they sell me the oven at below cost, and their plan for not losing money overall depends on people not using the ovens for brown…
The argument of below-cost hardware sales comes up frequently, yet I'm not at all sure it's true. Nintendo have certainly gone on record as saying the Wii was _never_ sold for below hardware cost (don't have a reference to hand, sorry); I don't follow the scene enough any more to know the general current position but it's far from a given that hardware sales are subsidised by software. Frankly I'd much rather see the…
Yes, the Wii hardware was sold at a profit. The PS3, though, was definitely at a loss. People took it apart, and the total cost of parts at the best prices available in available in large volume was well over the retail price (not all of which goes to Sony).
It's about freedom to tinker, It is wrong to seize some hackers computers and sue him because he was able to figure out how a device he owned worked. I don't want to live in a world where I become a criminal for even attempting to figure out how MY stuff works.
Well, in practice you only get prosecuted if you publish your results on the internet. This guy could have figured out how his stuff works all he wants, and even shown his friends, with impugnity.
if you publish your results on the internet.
This is also evil in and of itself, running afoul of free speech rights.
They may have even lasted into the release PS4 and so benefit from nearly zero piracy through the product cycle.
OT, but I haven't seen any rumors of a new generation of consoles. This generation has lasted a lot longer than the previous, and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least another year or two out of them. The addition of the new motion controls (Kinect and PS Move, although I haven't heard really anything about the latter) make it seem even less likely that they'll push for a new console yet. Edit: I also wouldn't be s…
No rumors of a new generation? Microsoft and Sony have been pretty open about planning the "Xbox 720" and PlayStation 4 since the current generation launched.
If you mean there's no rumor of the next generation arriving soon, that's true enough. Sony in particular have always stuck to the position that the Playstation 3 is meant to last for roughly a decade, which is why they said they weren't too worried by the fact that nobody wanted a PS3 when the system first came out. We're around the five-year mark now.
Note that phone jail breaking was given a very narrow exemption by the Library of Congress through the terms of the DMCA. It doesn't establish any legal precedent here, and lobbying for such an exemption is a lengthy process. Morally they seem similar enough, sadly that's not the issue.
Slavery was once legal in the US, too.
Does this observation have some relevance, or is it just for shock value?
This is a joke, right? I can't believe you're seriously comparing online platforms owned and operated by their creators to a hardware platform that's neither.
Just because it is a physical product doesn't make it any less protected. So, yes, I am seriously comparing them. If that's all you have to add I can't believe you wasted your time writing that.
It doesn't make it any less protected, but it does change whose rights come into play here. Apple owns the App Store servers, and thus you're violating its property rights if you hack them. I own my computer, so the one with property rights to protect is me.
With opinions like yours it's a miracle we have libraries.
Not a very clever one liner but I'll bite. My opinion appears to be in the minority on here and possibly elsewhere as well. What gave you the impression that my opinion is so important to the debate as to make it a miracle. I could see if I was a congressman or in government you might think that, but I am not.
Your argument here — against the parent's position that the ideas you're advocating are poorly thought out and impractical — appears to be "I am allowed to have poorly thought-out and impractical opinions because I'm not in the government."
That's not really much of a defense of your position.
OT, but I haven't seen any rumors of a new generation of consoles. This generation has lasted a lot longer than the previous, and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least another year or two out of them. The addition of the new motion controls (Kinect and PS Move, although I haven't heard really anything about the latter) make it seem even less likely that they'll push for a new console yet. Edit: I also wouldn't be s…
No rumors of a new generation? Microsoft and Sony have been pretty open about planning the "Xbox 720" and PlayStation 4 since the current generation launched. If you mean there's no rumor of the next generation arriving soon , that's true enough. Sony in particular have always stuck to the position that the Playstation 3 is meant to last for roughly a decade, which is why they said they weren't too worried by the fac…
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply this is the last generation of consoles (that would be ridiculous), just that there isn't one looming in the horizon despite it being the usual 5 year point.
The argument of below-cost hardware sales comes up frequently, yet I'm not at all sure it's true. Nintendo have certainly gone on record as saying the Wii was _never_ sold for below hardware cost (don't have a reference to hand, sorry); I don't follow the scene enough any more to know the general current position but it's far from a given that hardware sales are subsidised by software. Frankly I'd much rather see the…
Yes, the Wii hardware was sold at a profit. The PS3, though, was definitely at a loss. People took it apart, and the total cost of parts at the best prices available in available in large volume was well over the retail price (not all of which goes to Sony). edit: details: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2006/11/8239.ars
Interesting, particularly as it suggests the XBox 360 has been sold at a profit for at least four years now. So, of the three major home systems (as distinct from portables), at least two are being sold at a profit, further reducing the argument in favour of restricting their use due to recovering initial costs.
Not a very clever one liner but I'll bite. My opinion appears to be in the minority on here and possibly elsewhere as well. What gave you the impression that my opinion is so important to the debate as to make it a miracle. I could see if I was a congressman or in government you might think that, but I am not.
Your argument here — against the parent's position that the ideas you're advocating are poorly thought out and impractical — appears to be "I am allowed to have poorly thought-out and impractical opinions because I'm not in the government." That's not really much of a defense of your position.
It appears to be no such thing. Nowhere did I suggest my opinion was poorly thought out or impractical. I suggested that the parent's position was overstated and that people such as myself have very little to do with public policy.