Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 6th Mar 2013 11:54 UTC
"The European Commission has imposed a EUR 561 million fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with its commitments to offer users a browser choice screen enabling them to easily choose their preferred web browser. In 2009, the Commission had made these commitments legally binding on Microsoft until 2014. In today's decision, the Commission finds that Microsoft failed to roll out the browser choice screen with its Windows 7 Service Pack 1 from May 2011 until July 2012. 15 million Windows users in the EU therefore did not see the choice screen during this period. Microsoft has acknowledged that the choice screen was not displayed during that time." Burn.
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RE[9]: Comment by ilovebeer
by WorknMan on Fri 8th Mar 2013 01:26
in reply to "RE[8]: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2005-11-13
We're not going to see eye to eye on having no government regulation at all though. Just because some laws are bad doesn't mean we should get rid of all of them - especially those like antitrust (do correct me if I'm mistaken, but that sounded like the logic you used to reject anti-trust law).
Well, of course I'm not an anarchist, so you and I would agree that some amount of government regulation is necessary. What we will disagree on is what is considered 'necessary'
I remember when EA bought exclusive rights to make NFL games (which put all Madden competitors out of commission), and of course some people were screaming 'LAWSUIT!' Clearly, we have to draw the line somewhere, as a lot of this shit just gets superfluous. Personally, when it comes to companies being douchebags, I don't think 'it's going to suck if the government doesn't do something' is a good enough reason to get government involved. To me, anytime you ask for government interference is pretty serious, and should be reserved for dire situations. Why? As I said, the law of unintended consequences.
On a broader level though, I do believe government should be revamped. Instead of congressmen, what we really ought to have is a panel of experts in each field, that are elected by a majority, who probably have a vested interest in that particular field. For example, you probably wouldn't see many hardcore techies voting on matters of agreculture, and you wouldn't have people rejecting, for example, a candidate who might be an expert on economics, just because they don't like his/her stance on gay marriage. There wouldn't need to be 'hot button' issues anymore. Could you imagine when SOPA was brought up and we had a panel of technology gurus running that show, instead of a bunch of 60-something year-old geezers who probably couldn't manage to turn on a f**king iPod? It would've been laughed out of existence.
RE[10]: Comment by ilovebeer
by Alfman on Fri 8th Mar 2013 14:00
in reply to "RE[9]: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2011-01-28
WorknMan,
"Personally, when it comes to companies being douchebags, I don't think 'it's going to suck if the government doesn't do something' is a good enough reason to get government involved. To me, anytime you ask for government interference is pretty serious, and should be reserved for dire situations. Why? As I said, the law of unintended consequences."
Well that's reasonable, I just think when one company is abusing it's position to block competitors, that is a dire situation. Not end-of-life dire, but the end-of-the-open-market dire. I find it ironic, yet true that unregulated corporations can choke the free market as much as government regulation.
"For example, you probably wouldn't see many hardcore techies voting on matters of agreculture, and you wouldn't have people rejecting, for example, a candidate who might be an expert on economics, just because they don't like his/her stance on gay marriage."
This is altogether a different matter, but absolutely. Voting granularity is a big problem resulting in idiotic compromises between completely unrelated issues.
Edited 2013-03-08 14:04 UTC
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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Member since:
2011-01-28
WorknMan,
I agree with most of that regarding DMCA.
We're not going to see eye to eye on having no government regulation at all though. Just because some laws are bad doesn't mean we should get rid of all of them - especially those like antitrust (do correct me if I'm mistaken, but that sounded like the logic you used to reject anti-trust law).