Yeah you can cover our song, just don't do a good job

The Romantics are suing Activision Inc., the makers of Guitar Hero, for making a song sound too close to their original recording.

Activision legally purchased the rights to cover the song. Apparently, they just forgot that they weren't supposed to do a good job covering the song. As fans or guitar heroes, we wouldn't want the song to sound like the original, now would we? Never mind that the game that The Romantics may try to take off the shelf will actually increase exposure of their song and probably increase their profits. Never mind what it says about a song if it's so easily reproducible in a cover.

So next time, Activision, when you're covering such a basic song, be sure to miss a few notes or mess up a few words. Instead of saying "That's what I like about you", maybe you could say "That's what you hate about me". Or maybe "That's what I hate about The Romantics".

You have discovered open-source software

It really is amazing how much things have changed in the past two decades. Names such as Microsoft, Apple, Novell, and Netscape were either nonexistent or just beginning to develop. It raises the question: how long will these companies stick around? Some have already seen signs of weakening or acquisition such as Novell and Netscape. Microsoft and Apple have become household names, but some have suggested this may not be the case in the future. Some analysts have even suggested that Google, while in its glory days now, may not always be so prevalent.

One interesting phenomenon of our time is open-source software. It's really quite amazing that virtual communities have flourished and come together to develop software such as Apache and Linux for free. In a way, these are the Picassos and Michaelangelos of our time, contributing to the culture of our society.

I have to say that I am somewhat biased on the subject of open-source software. Over half of my working experience has been in supporting commercial software for a business as well as a university. I have also recently accepted an offer to work for Microsoft. So I obviously feel there is merit to the idea of corporate development of software.

The real questions have to do with what will come next. My roommates and I have enjoyed playing Civilization IV as of late. In that game, you go through the technologies of history and it says things like "You have discovered combustion" or "You have discovered computers". What will be discovered next? We have seen serfdom, slavery, communism, and capitalism. The Economist alluded to the potential of open-source production to replace capitalist methods we see today, and not only in software. Will we ever be at the point where all software will be developed and distributed for free?

Perhaps I'm just not a visionary, but it's hard for me to see. I think a lot of great things have come and will continue to come out of the open-source movement. Many improvements in technology or software come from individual or collective genius, which lends itself well to volunteers in the open-source community. However, other technological breakthroughs require an R&D budget of a corporation. Some in the open-source community get this budget from other corporations in an attempt to subvert Microsoft or other companies. If you were to take away these capitalistic intricacies, then what?

The bottom line, for me at least, is that if it weren't for the compensation of a company, I couldn't see myself creating software. How long can innovation continue without compensation? Who knows - some may argue that because I feel this way, I shouldn't even be involved in the software development process. Maybe they're right. If not though, think of all the technology that we would lose by not rewarding the innovators.

Looks like I'll remain a capitalist for now. I just hope that doesn't hurt me later in the game when another civilization discovers the next form of production...

Ring of Light of Death Revisited

I mentioned my Xbox woes in a previous blog post. After 2 years of faithful service, my roommate's Xbox 360 has encountered the same blinking red lights as mine did. Somehow we went from a situation where we were supposed to have 2 Xbox 360s to a situation where we have none.

The odds of two failing within a couple weeks of each other seem slim, right? It seems like there must be something wrong with what we are doing... But his lasted for 2 years... But wait! Then I remember that everyone at UPS knows the box and Microsoft has lost over $1 billion in repairing the consoles.

Anyway, we'll be Xboxless for 2 weeks or so. Guess it's time to be social... with someone who has an Xbox.

WTH?

Yeah that's right, I'm the creator of "WTH".

Too often these days we let slip a WT* (in this case * represents a letter between E and G, but I won't post it here because of the profane nature of the letter). I'm not a vulgar person, so I tend to throw out a "WTH" when necessary. It's still not pretty, especially when H is used for hell as opposed to heck, but it's at least an acronym I could feel comfortable saying around my mom.

For the overly conscious, I also offer the derivative WTW (what in the world) which I have also been known to use on occasion.

Halo vs. Hollywood

I know it's already been brought up before but I just think it's interesting that Hollywood execs are blaming low box office sales on the release of Halo 3. Granted, some estimates have put Halo 3's revenue at over $300 million. That's a significant chunk of the entertainment change that the box office relies on.

What I don't get is the assumption of the overlap. Do many people consider Halo 3 as a replacement for all other entertainment? What about movies in particular? I think I'm more inclined to agree with this assessment posted by "Jonathan". Yes, a video game could keep people from going to the movies. But bad movies, bad plots, and bad advertising can also keep people from going to the movies. Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller seems to be the poster child of movies that were "robbed" by Halo. Maybe it wasn't Halo. Maybe it's related to the fact that every time I saw a commercial for the movie, I reaffirmed my decision not to go see it in theaters.

I won't try to recreate the satirical pro-Halo 3 viewpoint, despite how tempting it may be. I just think that if they are worried that the 18 to 34-year-old male demographic has been swayed away from theaters, just come out with a decent flick. I think we all could have found $8 and 3 hours away from our couch to see something like Bourne Ultimatum, had it come out in October.

The UPS Store

I forgot to mention in my last post that when I went to the UPS store to ship off my brand-new-broken Xbox, someone walked in right behind me who was also shipping one. The store employee said something to the effect of "yeah we've had a lot of these go out in the last couple of weeks." When I shipped some things back from Washington back in August, someone was there shipping one off as well and the store employee said the same thing. Is it just me or should a store that specializes in shipping all shapes and sizes of boxes not be able to recognize that there is a particularly high concentration of a certain type of box? To say nothing of being able to identify it as an Xboxbox...

Ring of Light of Death

I succumbed to the temptation of those around me. I bought an Xbox 360. Some would consider it an impulse buy. There was some buyer's remorse. But when I plugged it in and turned it on and saw the welcome splash screen, that all went away. I navigated around the menus of my newfound toy.

I went to the system tab. It's the first tab to check out when you're a nerd. First option, set system time. Set the month, set the day, set the year, set the hour. Set the minute and the Xbox froze. Turn off the Xbox, turn it back on. Three flashing red lights.
After talking to India, they told me what I could expect on the repair process. It would take 3-4 weeks. This is what is annoying to me. With most other defective things that you buy, you can return them to the store to get a new one. Not with video game consoles (at least with most stores). And they won't just send me a new one. The console is treated as any other console under warranty. They first attempt to repair it before giving you a new one.

In the meantime, my buyer's remorse is back, and I have nothing to soothe my open wound. I've spent $xxx just so I could wait a month to use the product. Something needs to change with their policies so that a person doesn't have to buy a console and wait a month to use it.

And what recompense do I get for my inconvenience? A month's subscription to Xbox LIVE. Approximate retail value? $5. They have a funny way of measuring my inconvenience.

Oh don't mind that, it's just my bulging tricep

Those who know me know that I enjoy playing a few songs on Guitar Hero now and again. So after a 4 day hiatus, including a vacation to California, MackAck invited me to play a few songs. But I couldn't. I was terrible. I tried to "5-star" Aerosmith's "Same Old Song and Dance" but to no avail. Had I lost my touch? Granted, I'm not the best fake guitar player out there (2741st the last time I checked) but this is something that should have been within my reach.

It wasn't until the next day that I figured out what the problem was. My fingering dexterity had been jeopardized by a workout session in California. We went to the gym, and I worked my triceps. They were sore for days. The next day I woke up and played the same song before class and got 5 stars on the first try. Whew... still got it.

Those who know that I enjoy Guitar Hero most likely also know that I don't work out regularly. It's a habit I need to acquire... if only I didn't hate it so much. Here I am, faced with the dilemma. The more I work out, the worse I am at Guitar Hero. It's yet another embodiment of the principle of jocks vs. nerds. Which side should I choose?

MP3s

Copyright protection has gone too far in the digital domain. My ideal situation is one where all my digital media is available on my computer. I should be able to instantaneously access any piece of digital media that I "own". I have done what I can to rip all my CDs into music files on my computer. I have organized all my photos from my digital camera and even scanned several dozen hard copy photographs. But digital rights management has gone too far.

The business model for media companies needs to be revamped. We're now at the point where making a copy of a DVD on my computer can be considered illegal, regardless of what I plan to do with it, thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Therefore, putting videos I own on my computer, or making a backup of a DVD in case of future damage, is a legal risk. What we need is not more copy-protection techniques and technologies. What we need is a paradigm shift.

I agree with Orson Scott Card when he says that America will do the right thing if we embrace business practices that will support the artists while relaxing copy protection. Of all my music purchases in the last year, about 80% can be attributed to a preliminary screening where a friend gave me an MP3 file. I'm against circumventing copyright law, but I'm all for word-of-mouth advertising. And in some cases, that means sharing an MP3.