In article <3E94B67B.FE1A61FF at netjam.org> you write:
>
>Hi Chris--
>
>> They aren't open but they don't really need to be.  That's why
>> we have computers, after all.
>
>	I seem to recall some concern that THEY were trying to make it so that
>these closed appliance things were the only choice for every situation,
>that computers as we know them would become extinct/illegal/whatever.
>I'm not sure I agree, but the concern is out there.

Yeah, that's the impression I've gotten as well.  It would effectively
kill open-source software (which Microsoft would love) and seriously
limit the flow of information on the Internet (which the MPAA and RIAA
would love) so I can see that there's a lot of backing behind this.

My (perhaps overly optimistic) take on this is that it won't work in
the long run.  In the short run, they _might_ succeed at ramming this
through but once the average computers find themselves at the wrong
end of DRM once too often, they'll all start buying real computers
again.

Of course, I'd like to avoid these developments in the short run too,
so I've been trying to educate the non-technical people I know about
this.  The more people refuse to buy DRM-equipped PCs, the sooner the
whole thing will fail.

(The only way I can see this whole thing working is if DRM becomes
legally required though something like the now-dead Hollings bill.  If
that happens, I recommend against making any long-term investments in
that country's tech sector.)

>> And in any case, living rooms are not great places to program.
>> They're places to talk to people, watch TV, play video games, etc.
>> They're _not_ places where you'd typically concentrate on a
>> text-filled video screen.
>
>	Why fill it with text? For example, I've had great fun "programming" in
>groups of people, with a large display, via direct graphical
>manipulation. 

Okay, sure.  What was that, if I may ask?  The closest I've seen is
the game _The Incredible Toon Machine_, which is sort of programming.

>              I think such social computing remains a very interesting
>untapped area (I could easily believe there's no money in it, though :).

Ah, but what if there were?  Think about it--beer and pizza as R&D
expenses!

But I remain skeptical.  I know that for me anyway, there's a definite
shift in mind-state between when I program and when I need to talk to
people.  It takes a while to make the transition and I can only be
good at one or the other at any one time.  Everyone else I've talked
to about it has said the same thing.  This leads me to believe that
programming is generally a non-social activity, at least for a large
percentage of programmers out there.

But that's just speculation.  There's probably a research paper in
there somewhere, though.


                              --Chris


-- 
Chris Reuter                           http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~cgreuter
"I used to be able to count to 1023 on my fingers in two minutes, but then I 
 got better."
           --Eb Oesch, <903f6dfe.0303242039.1f9e65b6 at posting.google.com>