* Posts by Andrew Orlowski

1435 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Sep 2006

The Pirate Party is the shape of things to come

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Controller of the treasure chest

Heh. I'm not doing your work for you M2Ys4U.

The figures you need to support your assertion can be found on pretty easily Google. Try comparing 1999 with 2007 or 2008.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Wrong marketplace and wrong motivation

This is what happens when you back the wrong argument, and find yourself in an intellectual cul de sac. You begin to depend on mishearing, misquoting, or misunderstanding other people.

Eg #1:

"a 'shot at the big time' elsewhere from the content biz, including casinos, stock investment scams or lotteries with null return for the majority of punters and the odd stinking rich exception to motivate the losers."

But not a shot at the Big Time in the marketplace of artistic creation - rewarding the talent they have nurtured.

Eg #2:

"So Mr Orlowski wants us to negotiate away fundamental human rights (expression and privacy)"

See above (ad nauseum). Nobody loses.

You may differ from the Men Who Don't Yet Shave by age, and by perhaps by nuance, too - but your argument is also founded upon a deep and unpleasant set of intellectual prejudices. You're anti-talent, and resent talented people being rewarded for their talents.

Those are really repellent prejudices, in anyone's book.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Don't ignore the facts...

You've extrapolated an 83 year trend from two sequential data points.

Dearie me.

Are you by any chance the Pirate's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: coherent justification

"When non-profit making distribution is made legal"

Licensing that exclusive right is best done voluntarily, by the rightsholders themselves, I think you would agree.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Another Fail.

"(PS, as for 'comments allowed', I was referring to these, usually they're disabled on your posts)"

Er, not since last year. A few are closed for reasons I've explained many times. About 25 of my stories are "open" for comments at the moment.

Can't you get anything right?

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Too much power

Rants like this must be theraputic for the keyboard-basher making them, but they don't seem to be designed to convince anyone outside the Garden Shed. Quite a few objections to the program have been raised by me and here in the Comments, but I can't see anyone setting out the case.

Just a lot of repetition of entitlements. Maybe Pirate Party politics is about pressing the doorbell and then running away, really fast?

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: hm

"It's a choice between rights holders and the general public."

Only in your imagination. Once you step out of the Garden Shed, things are more complicated, contradictory, and interesting. Some people will always prefer a simplified view of the world, because they feel more comfortable in it.

"The record industry is squeezing money out of consumers"

The record industry is "squeezing" less money out of consumers than at any point in the past ten years. About half as much. You've even explained why.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Amazing, comments allowed!

Welcome to the spotlight, Andrew. But you need to raise your game. Insults are not an adequate substitute for rational argument. I note you've avoided most of the points I raised, and in particular, the main one: why anyone needs to be poorer.

No PP has offered a coherent justification for stripping rights from people. Or why creators and businesses should be poorer. Or why we should handicap an important part of our economy.

In my piece, I've explained how we can get P2P file sharing without anyone being screwed. Now it's your turn.

I would advise tightening up your prose (you're rambling about Fox here, megaphones there), stop playing to the gallery, and really honing your arguments.

I'd really caution against making stuff up in areas where it's clear you know very little, such as artist contracts: eg, "Then most aren't so sure." That's a conjecture. There are people here who know this area much better than you do.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: I'm amazed at the bile...

As I wrote in the article, you can get to your goals in a way that means nobody gets poorer - or spied upon, or has their rights stripped.

On the other hand, if you create a belief system based on a bunch of prejudices, then advocate policy based on spite, then of course people will react.

Yet you seem surprised by this reaction. Failure of empathy?

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: P2P still isn't legal...

I think we're talking about P2P music services. Labels would license their exclusive right to make copies of sound recordings.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Presenting the argument

Oh dear.

"it doesn't mean I'll be able to present "Thriller" as my own work!"

Read it again slowly, because it doesn't say what you think it means. You'll be able to issue Michael Jackson's Thriller under your own "Anonytard" record label (or whatever you want to call it), and you will not need to pay the composer or creator of the sound recording.

You really do need a crash course in copyright, so you don't confuse authorship and ownership.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Overly optimistic?

It may surprise you to learn that many, if not most, new acts want to be signed to a major record label. They see the deal as a favourable trade-off for the exposure they give them. They know very well that most don't make it, and how long it takes to recoup. But if you want a shot at the big time, you go with someone who can get you there.

Others are happy with the 50/50 revenue share offered by an indie label.

Your argument fails to make any such distinctions, and is taking choices and opportunities away from people.

Oops: Chief Climategate investigator failed to declare eco directorship

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Crazy analogies

"I say we should believe the experts in the field - and by and large, in fact in proportions very rarely seen in any scientific debate, they all seem to agree that AGW exists "

That's pre-Enlightenment logic, Mark.

We got rid of it hundreds of years ago, just like we got rid of tugging forelocks at the nobility.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: just a wild guess

So you're commenting on one of my climate articles about how you can't comment on my climate articles?

The irony police have called in reinforcements.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Did you check?

Welcome Michael, it's always nice to see new readers signing up to Comment.

Are you suggesting he has no interest in Climate Change? Merely directorship of a large international environmental lobbying network, chairmanship of a windmill company and chairmanship of a renewable energy company, and is an advisor to a green lobby group, and two green companies.

To me, it sounds like he's very interested indeed.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Um...

Beginners error.

You seem to think that an association with Shell would make Oxburgh inclined to be a sceptic. Energy companies are now amongst the biggest promoters of the manmade global warming theory, and have a huge investment in ensuring that it's "true".

Follow the money.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Um

When you've cleared your throat, have a look at the oil companies' exposure to carbon trading. Large oil companies have a considerable stake in global warming being manmade. As does your employer, funnily enough.

Greatest Living Briton gets £30m for 'web science'

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

"And no doubt the people that are complaining about this are exactly the same ones that complain the government don't do anything to promote business and technical excellence in the the UK.."

Perhaps there are scientists out there who need £30m more than this boondoggle.

Tories go nuclear, promise to prop up carbon price

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: It's all gone Daily Mail!

"in what areas is the UK (still) self-sufficient, apart from moaning? oil, food, manufacturing?"

Self-sufficiency isn't a goal for any modern economy. If it was we'd be much, much poorer.

If that's all too Daily Mail for you, you definitely need a basic course in GCSE economics.

Mandy quango says Apple, Amazon are too obscure

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Root vegetables

"I should think that Amazon and Apple will be over the moon with a 60% brand recognition."

Quite so!

And well over 80% among 15-34, who buy music. You're just not thinking like a gov-sponsored quango, though...

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Surely...

Exactly. I thought 6 out of 10 was pretty good.

Net downloads cause 'millions of lost jobs'

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Re: Horse and carriage sales down...

I can see why you want to change the subject, but you're avoiding the issue. There is strong demand for recorded music, and disposable income willingly given up for it. It's valued.

If the value is not being captured then the supply chain needs to be reformed, with new ways of capturing the value offered to the market.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Free walking is killing transport

An incredibly poor analogy. But I'm afraid freetards don't get much better than this.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Horse and carriage sales down

If nobody listened to music on computers, and there were no iPods, I would be inclined to agree. That would be evidence there is no market for digital music.

But the demand shows the value is there, but is not being realised by the creators.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: sigh

Matt, I'm not sure how many NuLab MPs have been in business, but it's not many at all. MPs of all parties now have little experience beyond the party machinery.

"music has been around an awful lot longer than EMI, Sony etc.... it will be around longer than whichever the popular medium for the times is too."

Indeed, but in feudal times artists depended upon charity. Thanks to copyright, they gained some economic independence. As old models go down, they should gain even more independence and autonomy - able to choose their middlemen.

I would have thought that would be something everyone can support, rather than viewing the poor buggers as collateral damage.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: It's progress that causes lost jobs

I don't think people were downloading microprocessors from Bittorrent, risk free, that were functionally identical to the real thing. If they were, there would not have been a market for microprocessors.

That's the argument.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Bingo Schmingo

But only a fool pays money for something when an identical copy is easily available, risk- free, for zero. It's irrational to pay.

So the money is spent elsewhere.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Some sense needed

For Paul and other new readers, music's wallet share" has been discussed a few times, most recently here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/25/spotify_exclusive/

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Not really a surprise

Lots of black economies become legitimate economies eventually, and so will P2P.

It's just taking a bit longer, that's all.

LibDems drop net blocking, blame activists

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Allofmp3

"The people that ran it, mafia or not, contributed a proportion of the fee to a copyright holders fund, as far as I know, it was never accessed by these organisations."

It's amazing what cock some people can write.

Ad industry OKs climate porn

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Oh, Epic Fail the lot of you...

Buying media space. Slots in the middle of Coronation Street are not cheap.

Whatever happened to the email app?

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Missing option

Not mass market. See above.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Threading vs Threading

Yes, indeed I was. Mail.app has became more usable as Mac OS X process handling improved.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: mutt

Indeed, and mutt would be my choice of email client if I had to run one in a terminal. comparisons between pine, elm, mutt were beyond the scope of the article.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: er... a few clarifications

A typo mangled the meaning of that Outlook Express passage. Fixed now, cheers.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Exchange client

Zimbra?

http://www.zimbra.com/

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Thunderbird

The article says Thunderbird is really quite good.

Paranoia strikes again Neil.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Does Andrew actually work in IT?

Facebook users are much older, Warren - the largest age group is 35 to 54.

You really should get out more.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: No mention of the dark side?

It's about dedicated POP3 and IMAP mailers, that's why. Not groupware.

Tories ask: Why BBC3, BBC4?

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Salford Quays

I know Salford very well, Peter, and I stand by that. It's 2.6 miles from Piccadilly, further if you drive, and more than 20 minutes on Metrolink.

It isn't even on the main Metrolink line. MediaCity will have its own very expensive little spur - another example of the poor subsidising the rich, and the North forking out to make the South comfortable.

- Andrew

BBC: Grasp the high-speed runaway cloud nettle

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Funny stuff

Um, comments are open on exactly 25 stories. By "these days" do you mean "them days"?

Still not sure it's worth it, though. The email comments complaining about elm, mutt being excluded were funny.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: In Praise of the New Model Army of MetaDataBase Pioneers ...... and Virtual Future Builders.

"Hi, Andrew, how very nice and unexpected to be able to have a chat with you in the Open."

Yes, but I'll miss our chats behind the bike sheds - with the flying saucer idling away next to us.

Mystic Met Office abandons long range forecasts

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Just couldn't stop yourself, could you...

No, I'm accurate and you're whistling. GCMs failed to predict the temperatures and precipitation of the past ten years.

Ask a passing climate modeler, or failing that, Google.

British Library wants taxpayer to gobble the web

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Why the Tax spin?

You're being exceptionally naive.

This is classic empire building. They want our money to do something that will ultimately be very expensive, for something nobody wants. As many commenters here point out, it's pointless. A blank cheque is being requested.

When they can offer more than platitudes and tell us how it will cost, then we can have a public debate on whether we need it.

Why you subsidize Google's Soviet-style Net

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: DNS isn't search

You're right, but my point is that for some people some of the time, that's all they need. It might even be many people much of the time.

Think about the kind of queries Google receives, and what might satisfy its users at a lower cost than indexing the Entire World Wide Web of Spam.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Dumb pipes want to be paid for doing nothing

Your point about the telcos failure to innovate is well made, but when you assert:

"Absent google the net would have far less traffic than it does. Absent google people would not be able to find anything on the net."

then you're in trouble.

Without Google, DNS would get cleverer. People would type in Fox News, the New York Times or The Register and find what they're looking for. That's an intelligent network.

You should talk to Google. They know they're indexing a lot of crap, it's expensive, and nobody needs it.

The test would obviously be to pit Smarter DNS vs Google in a price war, and see who won.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: You are missing the point

"OK in that case there is nothing more to be said here."

Not really. Things evolve, and it's the future shape of the internet we're looking at here.

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: what's the problem?

"Or a subsidy someone is paying google?"

In effect, yes. Every "producer" in the world is subsidising the maintenance of the Google search index. We don't hear too many complaints today, because it's generally considered to be a price worth paying today. Nobody wants to drop out of Google, although newspapers are very tempted to do so, if they could believe they could all do so at once.

"Do you want Google to pay for BOTH ends of every connection to any of their servers?"

It's not my call, it's up to people who pay the bills.

I'll describe it another way: the spread of costs as they are now means Google receiving a subsidy from producers. If this doesn't match the perceived value, then a new settlement will be reached, one with a different spread of costs.

Maybe Google will start to pay the producers who create the value (amateur or professional), or the distributors who ship it from the POP. The BBC was talking about creating a CDN to do just that - to help out the ISPs. Who knows?

Apple vs the iPad Bedwetters

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: Well bugger my old boots...

"by digressing in to his 'the internet is going to be ruined by Google' speech. Hmm. Maybe that was the point - it's not Apple but Google. However, either POV requires an impressive crystal ball to confirm."

I wouldn't even attempt to predict it either way.

The point is to describe the choices, and to ensure the various parties offering us choices outline them honestly.

Google knows what shape it wants the internet to be: it's one that maximises profits for Google (which is not a crime) but it also happens to be one that leaves no money on the table for other people. There are others, who are large and powerful too, have their own ideas about what shape the internet should be.

So now we can have an informed discussion.

That is all.

Save DAB! Send FM radios to Africa

Andrew Orlowski (Written by Reg staff)

Re: It's a chicken and egg problem

"Anyway, the egg came first obviously."

Not if the chicken was a mutation, or the result of an experiment by a visiting Martian, etc.