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Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

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Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#161

Post by mrguyorama »

dagw wrote: post #103
dzhiurgis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean bright LED's and transformer-like mods? I don't think so, seems like ALL gaming PC's are like that.

SGI workstations had hardly any lights. Their essential distinguishing feature where that they sometimes had slightly rounded corners and came in 'fun' colors. Kind of like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Tezro#/media/File:Silicone... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Octane#/media/File:SgiOcta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_O2#/media/File:Silicon_Gra...

Those unfortunately now just remind me of the Hot Wheels PC https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/azdp7i/hot_wh...

I'd rather see more like the SGI Indy workstation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Indy#/media/File:Silicon_G...

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#162

Post by JCharante »

kiddico wrote: post #124
fortran77 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this. > The thinks-their-technical users English was not my first language and sometimes I get tripped up. What does this mean?

They meant "thinks-they're-technical", which might clear things up. Putting dashes between a bunch of words isn't really a correct way to do this, but it's a way to smash a bunch of words together and pretend it's one word. In this case an adjective describing the users.

I suspect the trip-up was caused by mixing up their and they're.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#163

Post by cheeze »

pier25 wrote: post #160
foxhill wrote: post #2

yikes. having written aax plugins for a while, i have to say, i’m kind of surprised this came from AVID. from what it sounds like (having scraped the surface), it’s not their editing software (Pro Tools, et al.) but their copy protection management tool/device driver - iLok. i’m sure there are some very anxious engineers in the AVID offices today.

I bought a plugin from UVI and had to use iLok for the first time recently and the experience was atrocious. Not only that, if you want to sell and transfer your iLok license you have to pay $20. I will never buy anything that requires iLok.

Ironically, the folks pirating the software didn't run into any interruption because there is no iLok

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#164

Post by bpyne »

tunesmith wrote: post #159
bpyne wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the super-user syndrome. They know enough to get themselves into a bind but not enough to get themselves out. It's difficult just trying to get an accurate description of the problem because they lace the description with theories about what the cause is. "Please just describe the problem and, if possible, how you reproduce it. No, just describe the problem. What's happening when you press the button? No, just…

I tend to associate "super-user" with an admin who knows what they are doing. Back in the 90's we called these folks "power users".

Yup. Power user was the name we used back then. If you had a good one, (s)he could save you support time.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#165

Post by zerocrates »

api wrote: post #126
org3432 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically film tools have some of the most stringent copy protection systems, and big studios break the licenses agreements without hesitation when they need to get something done.

I wonder if Hollywood is so obsessed with DRM because they themselves are such f'ing pirates. The entire culture of Hollywood is around stealing (e.g. the endless so-and-so stole my script idea lawsuits) and defending oneself from having one's stuff stolen. Maybe they're projecting and imagining that everyone is constantly trying to steal everything. As a normal movie and TV viewer I will always look for an option to…

Since we're talking Hollywood, what's your success rate in being able to buy movies that don't have DRM? I can't think of any way to do that, really. Or are you saying that you basically can't, and therefore don't buy movies and instead stream or rent?

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#166

Post by SilasX »

baxter001 wrote: post #125
nkozyra wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're describing sounds like industry-specific anecdotes from a very common, cross-industry reality about non technical users.

On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. - Charles Babbage - Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "Differen…

On slashdot, someone proposed the theory that this is a good question to ask if you have rational worldview, and know this kind of thing should be possible, but aren't sure if you're dealing with a scam artist who will tell you what you want to hear.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#167

Post by jerf »

SilasX wrote: post #166
baxter001 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. - Charles Babbage - Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "Differen…

On slashdot, someone proposed the theory that this is a good question to ask if you have rational worldview, and know this kind of thing should be possible, but aren't sure if you're dealing with a scam artist who will tell you what you want to hear.

Yes, I've used that principle before; ask a question you know should be "no" and see what happens. Can that car tow this (way too heavy) thing? Will my dishwasher clean my dishes even though my water is full of sulpher? Will this (integrated graphics) computer play $LATEST_GAME at full settings? Will this plastic thing last ten years of solid use outdoors?

In my personal experience, I actually don't get the full-throated lie "Yes!" all that often, if ever, but I get a lot of uncomfortable waffling.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#168

Post by hyperman1 »

baxter001 wrote: post #125
nkozyra wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're describing sounds like industry-specific anecdotes from a very common, cross-industry reality about non technical users.

On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. - Charles Babbage - Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "Differen…

The 'light' variant of this question makes a lot of sence, though:

The askers were non-technical but very jaded in human nature, so they know the human-provided input might be slightly imperfect but not completely wrong.

Then the question is: Can a machine based on perfection cope? Will it output reasonable but slightly-wrong conclusions? Will it go off the rails and produce completely insane errors?

Answering this question requires a lot of interesting subtility, which has been completely rejected by babbage.

Re: Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood

#169

Post by anigbrowl »

KaiserPro wrote: post #31

rule 1 of hollywood tech support: Always take what the editor says with a massive pinch of salt. I spent ten years in the movie industry, and the people that were the most forthright, and almost universally wrong about technical things were editors. "The monitor is out of grade" No, you've set the background lights to red. "The sound is out of sync" No, you've turned off the amp and somehow managed to get the crappy…

Yeah but when they are all having the same problem that means it's a problem. I've been on both sides of that situation, generic dismissals like this are not useful or helpful.
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