Re: Fail assumptions here

But I thought Chrome and Safari run the same engine, so of course sites will rendered nearly identical, right?

Orphan Works

E.g, stripping metadata off of images so that the actual owner can't be found and thus won't receive his entitlement.

Re: How to make your game sound like empty, rehashed dross:

Rollercoaster Tycoon...a game written purely in assembly.

Re: Applied Placebo Effect?

I think it's the Government's fault for investing a lot in London and little elsewhere.

I do miss those cheap "dumb" phones that looked unique and beautiful.

Re: F*ck You RIAA

I don't see why you censored the title but not the message. Anyway, +1...

It's unwritten in the sense that the constitution isn't written as one document but spans over several. This is due to the UK's long history and that different issues would have had to been addressed individually at different times, producing different documents. Two examples which form part of the constitution would be the Magna Carta and Human Rights Act...

...oh, wait, you're joking.

Re: Pay Twice Great!

The EC normally says something along the lines of "if you have been affected you can claim some of the money", or something like that. Though how you are supposed to prove your right to some of the money, I'm not quite sure.

Re: viable business plan

It's either that or the companies do it anyway, pocket the money, don't tell the commission because they're afraid of fines and no one get's punished. Which do you prefer?

Not sure why you wanted my down vote, but I'm not feeling kind today so I'll take my right not to vote.

Re: Christ Almighty in duck form...

But the police are strangers, though. Mommy always said 'don't trust strangers'.

Re: Optional

I disagree. They would be shooting themselves in the foot if that happens. Though they could explain that users do have that much space free, most will still compare the prices of a 16gb surface and android and feel they'll get more with the DROID due to a lower cost, even if they will lose a few gb on the android.

Anyway, my point is consumers are stupid. Explaining it or changing the description is futile. Some are still confused why wp7 users aren't being upgraded to wp8, comparing to apple upgrading IOS users to newer versions. Even though both corporations are essentially doing the same thing.

Re: Let me be the first...

I was gonna say... "Kill It! Kill them all before they become too clever!"

@Alan Brown

Illegal? Where's the proof?

Re: I guess

Ahem. You mean The "Vanish".

Re: This is not a joke

Aha, having to use a joke alert because Police UK can't take jokes.

Re: another PS3?

"These ancient consoles (in tech years) are bringing down the standard of my PC games"

Just have to say that BF3 looks awesome on PCs. Consoles are forced to have the lowest settings that PC users may use. So I guess it's up to the development teams.

Re: Ugly

@Loyal Commenter

Wasn't the original PlayStation's ugliness because the deal between Sony and Nintendo went tits up?

Re: MS Office?

"Real engineers make their own out of individually arranged transistors!"

I'm told, at university, engineers use Excel.

Re: @J1

Since J1 hasn't replied, I'll try to answer the questions.

"So long as it is during the night spousal activities are OK? How does that work, is that either local time, or is there a specific time zone and latitude combination?"

He means after you break your fast. The prescribed time is when the sun sets, locally of course.

"I could never understand why there was any theological argument prohibiting taking photo's of the wife, either initimate or otherwise"

Something to do with privacy. You're not even allowed to discuss intimate moments between yourself and the wife with anyone else, unless there's a good reason to do so, i.e. a cause for concern or something.

"Made in god's image, he send's us down here naked, what is the argument for not then seeing nakedness?"

Err... can't answer that. Hey, why not direct the questions at "http://www.islam-qa.com", I would love to see their responses.

Re: MS Office?

"Real men avoid spreadsheets and presentations"

So....engineers don't use spreadsheets?

Re: Windows 8 compatible

That's like saying current gen consoles should have only worked with HD TVs when they came out. Touch Screen Monitors/TVs aren't that common yet and I'm sure the peeps would cry if they did. Oh, and Metro is usable with a mouse. That, or I'm a genius.

Re: I think it's time we let EU decide

Agree with the above post. There ain't no way they would sue Microsoft, their market share is pretty low so it's not gonna affect anyone or lock out competition.

Too lazy to write in a new post: They're only doing this on their ARM devices. Oh and considering they're gonna be making their own tablet, I doubt they want another OS making their device slow and crappy. If that happens then it would look bad on them. Let's not mention that 8 will it slow and crappy.

Re: Problem is marketing (@fiddley)

But apple leave out updates that are hardware specific. WP 7 users will get 7.8, updates from 8 that aren't hardware specific. Don't be sayin' that they're only getting a new start screen. We don't really know the full feature list yet, do we?

Re: Who rules on what FRAND should be.

Wouldn't it be easier for a company to find how much damaged is caused by the competitor than people like us?

Though I would rather check out how many products are sold and then calculate how much you could earn from each. Or in the case of Apple check how much other companies license it for, or how much a similar patent can be licensed for then calculate how much money you will lose.

I suspect that companies will have to license that watchdog chip if they want their gadget working.

Re: Experiences vary widely

Broken? Well it is a preview so bugs are present. But there's only one way to know if you find something isn't intuitive, and that is to use it. Metro is easy to use after 5 minutes. Start menu is on bottom-left, where it always been but is now 'invisible'. Hover top-left and drag down shows metro apps. Hover top-right and drag down shows settings. Okay, it isn't great. But it doesn't take that long to get used to it. Or maybe, adunno, it's 'cause I ain't old.

Re: The Competition Commission : Successes

That's the point, there is no list!

Re: The Competition Commission : Successes

Dude, Where's the list?

unless...they're British?

Re: Not surprised really

hmm because we just soo need a web browser on a console. Tablets and smart phones can connect to the internet and browse the interwebs, so why have a console do the same. i hardly ever use the one on the ps3, but maybe it's because id rather use my phone —easier to type and what not. oh and Nintendo didnt write the browser, Opera did.

You don't seem to understand that it costs money to maintain servers and perform updates. As a company you would prolly pass that cost to the customer—you wouldn't wanna go bust, now, would you? MS won't be the only ones, most companies, perhaps all successful companies, would try to increase their ROI, mainly to please the investors.

Re: Reading is Zombie H.Q. all the time, everyday

Let's all talk about our experience with Chavs. I'll start.

During lunch this year , at Coventry University, my course-mate and I were in the city centre and a chav came up asking " 'Ave you got a pound ma-a-ate? I'm starvin' ". We said no then looked at each other thinking did that really just happen. I didn't think Coventry was going to be this chavvy.

Can we not just deport 'em? I mean, I'm sure it's cheaper than fixin' everything they break and touch, and paying for their benefits. It's not like anyone's going to really miss them.

It's a conspiracy!

Maybe it's a gov-backed scheme to help geeks' fitness.

But then, how could anyone even disagree with you. Upvoted you, hope others do too.

@Spaniel : Totally agree.

Hmm, well, Nelson Mandela was labelled a terrorist, even by Thatcher.

I guess our Gov didn't find the nazis benefit them, had that been true y'know what would have happened.

I'd be surprised

Consoles don't run more than one app--except from maybe basic apps like music player or messaging-- and most people in business would probably rather have a multi-tasking PC. If you're then suggesting that people should have the capability to multi-task then that console is kinda creeping into the desktop category.

For cloud stuff, Alan Bourke's right, you might as well have a thin client and connect. In my opinion, windows desktop connection is kinda okay for connecting to remote PCs. I say kinda because it's what I use to connect to my university profile though I only do basic stuff like moving files. But there's better RDP software out there, why not just use one those. End of the day businesses will have to pay for the cloud, it's not gonna be free. Whether they use third-party servers or their own.

I think the right balance between pricing and hardware is a factor as well. At launch the PS3 had costed more than the 360 but not a lot of people were prepared to pay for it and would rather settle for the 360. Though the PS3 has better hardware and capabilities why would a developer, unless developing for just the PS3, create a game that's hugely different between two consoles, it's much more work and users probably won't be too happy.

@magnetik

Unlimited Movie streaming from LoveFilm or Netflix may cost less than a bluray, but you haven't bought a license for a copy, you're just renting. What the OP (Robert Heffernan) said was to get a coupon for a heavily discounted or free digital copy of the film when you watch it at the cinema. If that was to occur then you're going to have a license to watch the film on different types of mediums (or media), such as the cinema and on PCs.

Now, they're already sell films and then re-release them if a different type of medium comes out, but they want you to pay. So say you had Beauty and the beast on VHS, if it comes out on DVD they expect you to pay the full price, they will not give a discount just because you owned a license to watch it on a different medium. Likewise, if you download a copy because your copy on VHS isn't as clear or is lost, I doubt they'll treat you different to another downloader and who has never had a legal copy.

So, if they did sell the license for you to own a copy of that film on different mediums, then expect it to be high because they already want people to pay several times for that film. That's why there's directors cut and extended versions and special anniversary versions, they want people to pay. It may not be nice but they're a business and expect them to squeeze money out of their customers at every opportunity.

TL;DR: Discount code for films wouldn’t work so well because the tickets or license to watch the film(s) would then be huge. Streaming films wouldn’t work so well because of limited bandwidth and speed. Though big budget films may not be as awesome as indie ones, they are the ones that bring big bucks to the investors and do tend to fund indie films that could otherwise be a loss. Everything below says what’s mentioned in this paragraph at least once with quite a lot of bantering and digressing. Why not delete what’s below? Maybe you’ll enjoy my bantering, maybe not. Either way, I ain’t all for the new laws, especially if they restrict freedom and so on. But I don’t quite agree with you, though it could hold true for the future.

Hmmm I'd disagree with getting a discount code for a digital copy when watching the film in the cinema. Sure, it'd be lovely, but it's just not viable—unless you're going to raise the ticket price to cover the cost. Part of the money from the ticket goes to the cinema—so maybe a discount code could work, but then they're just going to be increasing the price of that license to watch the film on whatever medium you desire, a medium-wide-license so to speak.

That could be very, very expensive—I much prefer the current model, pay for what you want when you want. It also means those tight on cash don't need to pay a huge price for a medium-wide-license and instead a small price for the DVD or Blu-ray, or whatever, copy. In the future, downloaded films are the way to go, but the current bandwidth and download-speed doesn't really cut it at the moment. I understand the point you're making though, their current model isn't suited for the internet age. I agree.

You seem to be putting across that films are cheap to produce. They're frigging expensive. Sure, some of the budget might be going to heads-in-asses actors and directors who demand, or whose unions demand, a huge wage. But that's the way our crappy society runs, unfortunately. You’re putting across that pricing films low will mean more people will buy it. Possibly yes, but it might not generate as much ‘profit’, or whatever Hollywood banking calls that huge positive sum of money they get.

As for what films people like, kinda the ones they are producing at the moment. Yes the big-budget Hollywood ones are kinda crappy but they bring enough money in to fund the smaller indie films which tend to be a loss, even taking into account Hollywood accountancy. If an indie film does do well, such as Terminator, then the sequels tend to be big-budget. Though some indie films are never released because they don’t agree to the Hollywood motto, or if are released aren’t really advertised well, such as the awesome Fight Club film. Hollywood is making films people like as a whole, that’s why they’re making huge ‘profits’. If you don’t happen like those big-budget films, then you’re taste is rare and doesn’t really make a good return, as awesome as it may be to you or me. By the way, I’m not questioning you’re taste.

So yeah, the new laws may be bad, I’ve not yet read it, and if they are against our freedoms and whatnot, then I’m against it. But the current model kinda works, but then kinda doesn’t. [I’ll update/delete this post when after a nice sleep and some common sense]

Because that's how they can try to make their products better than their competitors, or penetrate new markets with a different type of product. At the moment, I'm thinking of Dyson and their innovations.

y'know, I don't think Ahmad... even has that many powers, I think the supreme leader does.