DISQUS

I'd have to agree with Seth here.

"If this incident demonstrates anything, it’s that there are significant “market forces” at work to restrain companies from writing agreements & policies that allow them to screw consumers."

It demonstrates no such thing. This only demonstrates that Google will fix a clerical error if the blogosphere makes a stink about it, it is the "market force" equivalent of kicking in a door that Google never intended to close in the first place.

If you want to demonstrate the market force of the blogosphere, you need to find a case where a company really wanted to put something nasty in an eula but was stopped by "the market".

Choice-of-court, no class-action, no reverse engineering, signing over copyright, warranty disclaimers and limited liability.. There are lots of examples of eulas containing what most people would consider unconscionable, while examples of "the market" / blogosphere forcing companies to remove these terms from eulas are rather scarse.

"The reason that ruling was wrong is that (contrary to software companies’ claims) shrink-wrapped software is sold, not licensed, and so under the first sale doctrine no license is required to use it."

Unfortunately, there seems to be legal precedent that a license is required for using/running software (i.e., the act of loading a copy of the software in the PC's RAM). I think it was Peak vs MAI or Vault vs Quaid. In any case, it is a very bad situation since it effectively provides software makers with the hook/"consideraton" required to make EULAs stick; the act of simply running the software requires a license.

The situation in Europe is different, EU (C) has a clear exemption saying that whoever possesses a legal copy has the right to make additional copies (i.e., copy to RAM, install to HD) for the purpose of using the software.

Only 40%? Any sensible ISP does "network management".

The trouble with your argument, though, is that you are confusing "network management" with "net neutrality".

Quoting wikipedia:

"Network management refers to the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of networked systems."

Net Neutrality: "[..] network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers."

The thing is people don't perceive everything all the time. You might get away with a perception-tracer that works on the same principle as a ray-tracer or 3D renderer. You don't have to emulate the quantum state of every atom in a microchip as long as the output is correct. It would be tricky to get right; but hey, we're talking about someone that's supposed to be capable of building a world-emulating computer.

The computational requirements would still be enormous. Not in 50 years, we're likely talking on the scale of a Matrioshka-brain.

My problem with this gedankenexperiment is that it smells too much of human narcissism. In earlier times, we believed (ok, some still do) that a God created the universe for our benefit, that the sun revolved around the earth, etc. To think that trans-humans would undertake the effort to convert an entire solar system to a computer just to emulate us seems like a modern equivalent of the same line of thought. Me thinks Dr. Bostrom needs to be subjected to the Total Perspective Vortex.

While Markey didn't argue his point very well, Carterphone for wireless carriers is high overdue.

@Mauro

What's your problem? That some people choose a product with less features because it is easier or better to use?

Two different phones for two different markets. You know, like SUVs and 18wheel trucks.

The iPhone is for those who want a phone, an iPod and an Internet tablet in a nice and easy package.

The N95 is for those that want every single thing that's possible to cram into a phone today.

Which one you choose depends on what you want and need in a phone. Why is that so horrible?

This is really an apples and oranges (or whatever fruit Nokia is) comparison. Two entirely different devices for two different market segments.

Comparing the iPhone feature for feature with the N95, it will come up horribly short. Just like the iPods come up short (e.g., no voice recording, no FM radio, etc..) when compared to many other handheld media devices.

Compare for example the iPhone's bluetooth and that on the N95. The iPhone can use its bluetooth to pair with a headset and with a car kit, that's it. The N95 (and many other phones) can in addition use it to transfer files, sync with a PC, connect bluetooth keyboard, GPS and many other devices, you can connect it to a PC over bluetooth and use it as a modem, etc.

The iPhone is also not open for 3rd party developers, while smartphones have a plethora of 3rd party software available. As such, it would be a misnomer to call it a smartphone and you can't really compare it with them. AJAX is eeeeh.. even J2ME support would have been better than that cop-out.

Anyway. The point is, the iPod isn't considered one of the best in its class because it scores top on a feature checklist. It is because Apple is good at UI - they make devices that do a few things, and do them well. There's that ephemeral 'it just works' factor, and for some that's more important than lots of features.

The iPhone is for those who want an iPod, a cell phone and an Internet tablet wrapped up in that Apple UI experience.

The N95 is for the power user or gadget geek that wants the current king of swiss army knife smartphones.

I think it is absolutely great that Apple is entering this market (although that 'revolutionary' spiel gets a bit tired when you start comparing features). SE, Nokia and others know how to cram lots of features into a phone but they definitely have a thing or two to learn about UI. This will make them put more resources in that area, which is a win for all of us that actually have to use the darn things. ;-)

When the iPhone was announced, I was also excited about OSX but Apple has so far not opened it up. Which is sad, because I really want to see a proper OS on a mainstream smartphone. Symbian, WM and the like are top-heavy embedded OSes and to put it mildly are not exactly the nicest platforms to write apps for. If Apple opened iPhOSX, it could make the others do something about that. There are a few Linux devices out there, but they don't have sufficient market share yet.

This is really an apples and oranges (or whatever fruit Nokia is) comparison. Two entirely different devices for two entirely different market segments.

Comparing the iPhone feature for feature with the N95, it will come up horribly short. Just like the iPods come up short (e.g., no voice recording, no FM radio, etc..) when compared to many other handheld media devices.

Compare for example the iPhone's bluetooth and that on the N95. The iPhone can use its bluetooth to pair with a headset and with a car kit, that's it. The N95 (and many other phones) can in addition use it to transfer files, sync with a PC, connect bluetooth keyboard, GPS and many other devices, you can connect it to a PC over bluetooth and use it as a modem, etc.

The iPhone is also not open for 3rd party developers, while smartphones have a plethora of 3rd party software available. As such, it would be a misnomer to call it a smartphone and you can't really compare it with them.

The point is, the iPod isn't considered one of the best in its class because of a feature checklist. It is because Apple is good at UI - they make devices that do a few things, and do them well. There's that 'it just works' factor.

The iPhone is for those who want an iPod, a cell phone and an Internet tablet in one. Wrapped up in that Apple UI experience.

The N95 is for the power user or gadget geek that wants the top of the line swiss army knife of cell phones.

con·ver·gence –noun
1. an act or instance of converging.
2. a convergent state or quality.
3. Technology: the reason why your GPS, camera, cell phone, PIM and media player all stop working at the same time when your battery dies.