Paypal passes the piracy buck

http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1039169.0.marksman_c alled_in_to_kill_kingstons_pigeons.php

Merry Christmas

Regards
Pete Farrow

Subject: article

What's up with the pretty color blocks that don't match the words on them? Are you trying to confuse me?

Seriously off beat. But get back to the technology, please!

Regards,
Eric

Subject: worthless article

Your "article" is nothing more than a thinly-veiled knock against MS/the XBox 360, and a Sony/PS2 love letter.

Hey dipshit, here's one for ya: everyone that lives in *real* countries that actually matter, you know, where people have money and jobs and things like that, learned long ago that backwater countries are always at least a technological generation behind. Also, no one in your country can afford an XBox 360, so no wonder no one bothered to play the demo unit(s).

irrelevant

Subject: Selling Speculation

It's a child's puzzle. If you have only so many dollars to spend what do you spend it on? Even a child knows that spending it on one thing denies the child something else he could have bought with it. And so goes Microsoft's argument out the door.

Everyone reading any survey produced by the master spin doctors at Microsoft should realize that if you don't spend that money on Microsoft you'll spend it elsewhere, or, at least, you'll save it (which is also a good thing).

What Microsoft is selling is pure speculation. This is like selling land during the 1840s when gold was discovered in California. Many were willing to sell (and buy) land at inflated prices with the speculation that since some of the acreage around them yielded gold theirs might also.

Since we know that this will never result in gold for anyone buying Vista (as there is no compelling reason to upgrade) it leaves the money in the hand of the robbers selling the speculation.

No, we won't see that sort of infusion into the economy. That money would be better spent on their family's eduction, on clothes for the kids, on a more reliable car. What happens when you put that money into Vista is that the money goes to a Monopolist company convicted of crimes and it goes to mostly that one company, whereas if families and business spend that on more important projects the money will more widely be distributed across the economy and hence boost it even more. What Microsoft's survey fails to mention are the figures about how much of a greater boost to the economy those dollars would create if the money was distributed more widely. Remember Gates and Ballmer are already incredibly wealthy (they don't need it) and this money would moreover go into a significantly smaller pool of pocketbooks.

AMD and even Autodesk would be better served by distancing themselves from this Vista con. I know they are just riding the back of the speculation hoping people will buy more of their products when they realize that much of the cost of upgrading to Vista comes at even greater expense due to significantly increased hardware demands.

It is so sad to see the general public taken by such a con. Save your money. XP is more than adequate. The only thing that Vista has that XP doesn't is improved security (and that won't last long as so many have successfully broken that security already). No to mention the implementation is annoying and that Unix and Linux have better security already. The only way they can compel purchases of Vista is to neglect XP's security. How much do you want to bet that happens?

With the help of XGL and Beryl/Compiz you can see a spectacular desktop for Linux which has incredible 3d accelerated effects on the desktop that just shames Microsoft and their excessive hardware requirements.

jdblaich

Subject: Wear green?

HI, INQ:

I think if you read the letter (not the background) it says on the top of the list, "Green - Wear it to interview".

I think the brain works differently -- maybe it depends on the side of the brain.

Some people see the color background, but the brain interpriets it as if the letter says the color.

Others may see the letter and ignore the background color. :P KKai

Subject: morons

How many people out there, when you go outside, looking at them, driving around, walking around, do you reflect on with these words:

What fooking morons exist around me?

People will swallow anything fed to them by media companies. This article will be meaningless and the 46% will be meaningless as well as soon as 1000 blurays are released at blockbuster.

The vast majority of WEALTHY people who are into tech all say at my store that ps3 is the smartest buy you can make right now for high end video. hd-dvd is considered ghetto by snobs and is not even mentioned or carried in private appliance/high end video stores/installation services on Long Island where I work and live.

It is like the plasma vs lcs vs dlp. Read anandtech or this, its DLP wins sometimes or lcd another. In reality, they both are losers to the snob crowd who only buy plasmas.

Basically, generalizations of who will buy what or popular opinions actually have nothing to do with who makes money and what is sold.

Wakrather

Subject: HP problems

Hello The Inquirer Staff!

My name is Éric Fleming Bonilha and I´m a Brazilian user and I have a fact that I have to share with you since we can´t do anything more about it.

My company have bought an HP DAT 72 Internal USB driver for backing up our data and for our surprise the drive doens´t compress the data as it should compress, so, we have an amout of 66GB to be backed up and it can only backup 36GB per cartridge (It should backup 72GB), than we have called HP and they said that the problem was with the OS that we were using (Windows 2000) and using another OS should resolve the problem, so, we have bought Windows 2003 Standard server only because of the problem. What happened??? The same thing... we just have loose money buying a new OS and the drive didn´t compressed the data.

HP sent us a tecnhical and he had changed our drive for a new one. The new drive has the same behavour.. it doesn´t compress the data... So, at the end, they said that the problem is with our server, so, we have made some tests with other machines and the problem persists.. HP is now saying that this drive is only compatible with HP Servers... that is an abuse!!!! They sell these drives saying that it should work on any machine, and when we get problems they simply change they speak saying now that it is incompatible... We had tried to have our money back and the answer was: "It is your server problem.. we can´t do anything about it and we can´t give you money back"

What company is that????? How can it treat it´s customer like this!!??

I dont´ know who to talk anymore, probably we will have to use it and we will have to handle to problem alone... that´s a shame, how can a big company like HP do something like this to it´s customer..

Flem

Subject: Paypal

Hi,

PayPal are currently demanding that victims of software piracy on ebay get an official statement from a qualified party to state that the fraudulent items really are dodgy.

As the unwitting purchaser of 60 pirated xbox games I was left pondering, during the season of goodwill and manic shopping activity, what a qualified party would be? To help me with my train of thought PayPal kindly provided a 10 day time limit on providing the information back to them (at least they are not totally faceless - they have a fax number!).

I'm sure the teenagers at my local Game will be delighted to sign an affidavit, while swearing on a Zelda strategy guide, that my badly photocopied version of Tomb Raider Legend really is hooky. Perhaps someone should be warning the games shops and all local retailers that PayPal are switching their fraud policing activities to the local retail community rather than sullying their own hands. Still a good saving for their bottom line and, double bonus, a moral investment in local shops who may soon be able to claim they are carrying out a community service like the post office.

Further evidence that the digital, self policing world, is indeed a mad mad place?

BTW here's the email from PayPal is much more turgid text:

"In order to continue with the investigation of your claim, we must request documentation to support your claim that the item is not authentic. Please obtain a document from an unbiased, third-party, such as a dealer, appraiser, or another individual or organisation that is qualified in the area of the item in question (other than yourself), which clearly identifies the item as not authentic. If possible, the document should include a serial number and description of the item, and must be on letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the individual, business, or organisation so that PayPal may contact them if necessary.

The documents should be faxed to PayPal at 08707 303 196. Please include a cover sheet with your fax that includes the email address registered on your PayPal account and the ID number of your claim (PP-###-###-###), so we may attach the documents to your claim as quickly as possible.

We must receive your fax within ten days from the date of this message in order to proceed with the investigation of your claim. If we do not receive your fax within ten days, your claim will be cancelled. Unfortunately, we are unable to grant extensions to this time period. Please note that PayPal is unable to reimburse you for any costs or fees that may be incurred in obtaining the requested documents. Any documents you provide may also be supplied to the seller in your dispute if necessary.

Thank you for your co-operation and patience. We apologise for any inconvenience this request may cause. Please do not misconstrue PayPals request as suspicion that your claim is not valid. As we are an internet-based business, we do not have the opportunity to review the relevant items and evidence in question. Therefore, we must rely on the documents described in our request to continue with the investigation of your claim."

John Stringer

Subject: Firefox in Europe

Paul,

Very interesting article. As an ex-pat Brit living currently in the US I find it reassuring that the Brits, as is normal with them, have stuck to their tradition guns and lagged behind a good many in uptake of anything new, in this case Firefox. But, as regards lowest uptake Spain would, according to what I saw, be the leading laggers with an uptake of 13.7% and next in the list would be the Ukraine with 13.8% - something to be proud of there that the UK has exceeded the numbers of these two places. It is disappointing though to realize that the land of Guinness, something for which they should always be praised, has surpassed the land of progress that is Blighty. But then at current rate Mongolia may well give the UK a run for the money. :)

Cheers,
Rich Mycroft