Thursday, January 27, 2005

Delgado Plans to Continue War Protest (AP). AP - Carlos Delgado is willing to stand up for his beliefs — or, in his case, not stand up. At his introductory news conference Thursday with the Florida Marlins, Delgado said he'll continue to not stand up this season during the playing of "God Bless America." [Yahoo! News: Top Stories] Good for him.  I wish more people had his courage.  I personally don't think God Bless America should have ever been played outside of New York City and certainly not in Toronto, but to actually sit down for what he believes - there are more that feel that way. 8:48:04 PM    comment []

Microsoft reports profit surge. The software giant saw strength in both business and consumer sales, with the Xbox unit posting its first-ever operating profit. [CNET News.com] Write you own opinion... 8:44:15 PM    comment []

RIAA files 717 new file-trading lawsuits. WASHINGTON - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed 717 new lawsuits against peer to peer (P-to-P) users allegedly trading music for free, the trade group announced Thursday. [InfoWorld: Top News] Now, I have to ask this, as I have asked it before - how does the RIAA expect to get people interested in their product, which one has to assume is music rather than lawsuits, by issuing more lawsuits. Now, I am all in favor of paying for your music.  I honestly think it is theft to share entire albums, but I have to be honest here - of the majority of music, in print, how much of the entire album would you want?  Really?  Even back in the good old days, pick up any classic and tell me how many of the songs you know.  If it is more than four, then the album should be immortalized.  As a case in point, I will pick Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.  That is an album that most people can say they know all the songs on.  But unless you rip it at full size, you are cheating yourself of the experience of the album and I have to agree with the audiofiles that the vinyl version is much better than the CD - there is just something missing. But there are few albums that fit that bill and if the members of Pink Floyd are getting all the profits owed from them, then I have some swampland in Florida, California, and Antarctica for you.  But they are still entitled to their money.  Is issuing lawsuits the answer?  Is it going to get any positive press for the industry in general.  An industry that quite honestly has not created a positive image of itself or encouraged its artists to be better musicians.  There are good musicians out there and there are stellar talent promoters busting their behinds to make it.  What is the RIAA doing to help them?  I have to wonder, with another 700 lawsuits pending.... 8:42:44 PM    comment []

Trojan piggybacks on Microsoft patching. Fake e-mail warning of a Windows security problem tries to fool people into downloading and installing a program. [CNET News.com] I guess the first question I would ask is why should I trust ANY email coming from someone I don't know.  The second question is why would I then trust anything coming from Redmond?  I don't automatically trust ANY email coming into my account, but one coming from a large corporation that is anything other than marketing should immediately be suspected and the marketing stuff should be deleted!  I guess it's shame on you if you fall for it.  Microsoft does not have your best interests in mind, so why should they send you an email?  Especially when they have programatic ways of taking over your PC. 4:44:12 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 David Lane.