Re: Download NEW Internet Radio Tuner
On Sat, May 01, 1999 at 10:38:19PM -0700, Maria Cantwell wrote:
All of the text that appeared in the original mail has
been included (unedited) in correct order and appears as quoted
text ( prefaced by '>' )
MARIA CANTWELL - PLEASE NOTE THE CC: ... Any interesting
comments made by those on the mailing list cc'ed will be
forwarded to you and your comments in response to this
document as well as other discussion will be forwarded to
that list.
ALL READERS - Do not trust my judgement of what is interesting
and what is not ... cc: all comments to RealNetworks so that
they, at least, are kept aware of the feelings of Debian
users. Comments cc'ed to RN obviously, will not also be
forwarded by me :)
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
>
> You are receiving this email because you downloaded our
> RealPlayer and indicated a preference to receive product
> news, updates and special offers from RealNetworks.
Yes I did - maybe I wasn't being too clever at the time :)
>
> To remove your name from future email communications,
> simply visit the following URL and click on the Remove
> button: http://ml.real.com/ml/ml.html?email=ivan@vianet.net.au
I may just have to do that ... READ ON ...
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Dear RealPlayer Customer,
>
> Did you know that there are over 1,600 radio and TV stations
> broadcasting live in RealAudio and RealVideo? The only
> hard part is finding all of them.
Yes I do know ! No it's not ... READ ON ...
>
> With vTuner Plus, you have instant access to more than 1,600
> radio and TV stations from around the world.
Oh really ? ... READ ON ...
>Try it now from
> RealNetworks for only $14.95, a savings of $15.
I'll play your game ... I accept that a special offer made exclusively
to _every_ user who asked for updates is truly exclusive ... READ ON ...
>
> "Absolutely fantastic! ... Before I discovered vTuner I
> had to find stations one at a time." - Jade Jones, vTuner Customer
Jade, I'm pleased you had such success with this product ... would
you mind confirming (just for my information ) that you use a Linux
kernel based system and explain exactly how you managed to install
this product ? I use Linux and have been completely unable to get
this product to work
>
> ==> http://www.realstore.com/specials/tuning.html
OOOOOHHHHHH ... I see ... this product isn't actually ready for
release to the General Public. Presumably you, Maria, meant to
explain that you are advising that a beta release (binary only)
is available for testing before _the_company_that_employs_you_ is
prepared to release final sources and binaries ? Ahhhh ...
I get it now ... you don't plan on allowing _knowledgable_ users
access to this program until it is _reasonably_ perfect ... READ ON ...
>
> Here's how it works:
>
> · vTuner Plus is an amazing software application that seamlessly
> integrates with your RealPlayer, and organizes all the stations
> into one place on your desktop.
Great idea - wish I'd thought of it so _I_ could sell it to _you_ :)
... READ ON ...
>
> · A single click gives you instant access to any station:
> hear cutting-edge tunes from the UK, LA or NYC; follow your
> favorite sports teams live on the air; or watch breaking news
> from around the world.
Well I'll be blowed !!! This, when it is available to *nix users,
is the only product that allows _single_ click access to _anything ...
even accessing vi requires _two_ clicks ( _v_ && _i_ )
... READ ON ...
>
> · With vTuner, you're the DJ and the program director. You
> can create your own favorite groups of stations for quick
> access... even add new stations that you find over the Web.
What ??? I understood, from your following paragraph, that vTuner
eliminated all of this stupid "search ... find ... bookmark ..."
carry-on ? ... READ ON ....
>
> · Listings are updated daily and rated for reliability, sound,
> speed, web site, and best overall stations -- so you are always
> ensured of the best stations and the most offerings.
>
> We invite you to download vTuner today for only $14.95 at no
> risk, and discover the wide world of Web entertainment that's
> waiting for you.
>
> ==> http://www.realstore.com/specials/tuning.html
Ummm .... I didn't see a *nix version that's available - I assume
that the continued support of your product is _so_ important that
the support even of those of us who use your product maybe twice a year
is essential to the financial well-being of the company ?
Quick Maria ! Sue that person that suggested that RealNetworks
is financially unsound and is totally reliant on selling unreliable
product to an unknowledgable market. Sorry - I didn't archive
a copy of that message - wish I could help ... READ ON ....
>
> Thank you for continuing to use RealNetworks products.
You're very welcome ... I greatly wish that I had more opportunity
to explore this "brave new world" and to "bravely go where no man
haas gone before". It's very sad (to me) that I have to break my
internet connection and reboot into windows _just_ so that I can
take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to give _the_company_
that_employs_you_ more money. It's even more sad that, AFAIK, source
code is not available so that, even if I wanted to, I could not
assist _the_company_that_employs_you_ to make such a wonderful product
available to the General Public. ... READ ON ...
>
> Sincerely,
> Maria Cantwell, Senior Vice President
> RealNetworks, Inc.
> Seattle, WA USA
I am more sincere than you would believe when I say that releasing
your source code would, IMHO, more than double your income from
this product ...
You, personally, and the company that employs you may believe in the
commercial advantage of binary only distribution. IMHO, if this
is the case, you are fooling yourselves ! As far as I am concerned,
and _I_ have _never_ knowingly participated in an illegal act, the
quote to the effect that "If it can be made by Man, it can be
_unmade_ by Man" has never been so true as when applied to the
field of software production.
In short, anyone who wanted to could _easily_ disassemble the binary
that your company distributes and then make whatever changes that
person desired prior to redistributing a new binary. It may well
be a breach of the EULA but do you or your company really have the
time and money that is required not only to track the original
person who breached the EULA but to track down everyone else who
has taken advantage of this breach (and therefore not entered into
the EULA) and sue them for breach of copyright ?
With the debugging and tracing tools that are available now it is my
opinion that there is no such thing a program too complex to understand.
The problem is for the company that employs you - consider, just as
an example, that a person wanted to port your program to a Linux
based system. Disassemble, change, reassemble ... 1,2,3 easy as ! BUT
what if, in making the changes required for the port, the person
inserted deliberate bugs that, on the 1st of July (or any other date),
caused the program to wipe the partition table or (a la Chernobyl)
blast the bios ? Not a problem for a *nix system because of the
permissions issue ? Well, what if this same person packaged the
binaries of the product into well known formats ( eg. .deb, .rpm)
and made the installation of these binaries suid root ? AND this
was all done completely without knowledge or approval of RealNetworks ?
Just where do you think the company's credibility would lay regardless
of protestations of innocence ?
OTOH, your company could release complete source code so that :
a) a scenario such as above is relatively difficult because the
mainstream distributions (such as Debian, Red Hat, S.U.S.E. etc...)
would only "allow" propagation of binaries compiled from "official"
source code and;
b) any bugs that do exist (and you live in a dream world if you deny
the existence of bugs in a large software project :)) will be quickly
discovered and fixed _free_of_charge_
By all means, charge those people who want to live in a "pay for
everything" environment (i.e. Windows lusers) - I have no objection
to that and I'm sure that there are enough lusers around to keep
your company financially viable. BUT you could maximise profit
by minimising development cost by releasing source code to those of
us who care enough to want to help _you_ fix it - we will take on
the task of adding features, debugging existing problems and
distributing the binaries. The Mozilla project is alive and well
and considering buying NYC (and Hawaii after that) !!!
I accept that there are a _large_ number of freeloaders who claim to
be part of the free software community but these people will never
be part of that community because they never contribute. These same
people will, eventually, be given a choice : put out or get out !
i.e. Contribute (give back equal value to what you have received) or
go away - don't ask questions - don't expect support - just PISS OFF !!!
Those of us who genuinely support the ideals of free software _will_
contribute. Some, such as I, do not have coding skills but will
give documentation or personal support; others, who don't have those
skills, will contribute coding skills or develop whatever skills
are required to stitch the tear in the support net. Your company
will make money on three fronts :
1. Selling a substantially better product than the opposition (yeah,
alright, the opposition may go open source and garner similar
advantages but still ... :))
2. Selling support for your product - you will pick up all of those
people who grabbed your product thinking it was _totally_ free who
have subsequently been told to put out or get out.
3. Selling anything to the lusers - provided a provably large number
of people use the product the lusers will buy it !!!
Maria, I came to your range of products completely by accident -
RealPlayer (or whatever) was amongst the disks supplied to me as
part of the windows package when I purchased my computer.
After making the purchase, I discovered Linux and explored and
explored and carried on exploring .... I later discovered
RealPlayer for Linux systems and that made my internet experiences
so much more interesting that I ditched windows altogether. THEN
I upgraded my kernel - oh dear !!! - it seems the RealPlayer wasn't
at all real because it relied on _bugs_ to operate. Never mind,
just on principle now I will not revert to windows box(en) and
will happily sacrifice video && music to satisfy that principle.
Unfortunately for your company that means that those web pages
that rely on being able to transmit RealAudio etc... receive an
e-mail from me asking that they co-operate in using a common
_free_ protocol. In turn, assuming I am not the only person who
does this, more companies are turning away from your range of
authoring tools - this is costing your company money !
Maria, I assume I am writing to a real person who is really
vice-president (the title is important only as an indication
of a level of authority), may I suggest that you consider
releasing your source code ? There are many in the GNU/Linux
community who would even help your company port to our OS
if that was required and I believe that I have outlined
sufficient reason for such a move to considered seriously
by all levels of senior management.
I would truly appreciate your comments regarding the matters
raised above. I assure you that failure to reply will
result in my _total_ rejection of the products of your
company and my very best efforts to persuade others to
my point of view. I am not being bitchy or even nasty in this
but I am at the stage now where I consider the GNU/Linux combination
to be a mainstream OS and worthy of recognition and will
attempt to enforce this recognition to the best of my ability.
Again, I look forward to receiving your comments and give you my
Kind Regards,
Ivan McDonagh
( ivan@vianet.net.au )
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