uh-oh...

The Register is reporting a particularly evil reply by EMI Germany's customer relations to a customer's complaint that a CD he bought wouldn't play in a CD-ROM drive.

In summary, they did just about everything short of calling him a criminal, said that all CDs on sale will be similarly "protected" within months, and told him (not particularly politely) to fuck off. So much for "customer relations".

Given that about 80% of my music listening is done via computer CD-ROM drives, I'm not really very happy about this.

[edit: OUCH. Read in conjunction with another article on the Register today, this is REALLY depressing. In summary, the UK's proposed implementation of the new EU Copyright Directive will mean that if you buy a CD that won't play on your chosen device, you are totally screwed, uh, I mean, reliant on the Home Secretary for any form of recompense.]

Slightly less depressing...

A leaked Microsoft memo

Microsoft survey says: Computer people don't believe Microsoft propaganda about Open Source being the The Spawn Of Satan/A Communist-Anarchist Plot/A Cyber-Terrorist's Charter/etc.

[link: The Register, again, and Slashdot]

Just Read: Wingèd Chariot, Ben Jeapes

amazon.co.uk
Rico Garron is a field operative for the College, an organisation which controls the use of time travel. He visits a patrician to retrieve a field computer, only to find that the patrician is dead. Suspicions aroused, he starts poking around.
In many ways this is rather old-fashioned SF, in a good way. Clear prose, a well thought out plot, tech that is interesting without getting in the way. Good fun.