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[mankrip]

Today they made me replace a client's disc that came with her DVD player. The thing is, this DVD player also has a NES emulator built in, and the disc is a CD with dozens of NES ROMs.

It's legally sold in stores around here, including the one where I work. No, it isn't licensed by Nintendo, Konami, Capcom or any other of the companies whose games are included with it. And it isn't the only one. There are some others, including some from companies well known around here, such as Philco. Our clients probably think they're buying legitimate games.

It's disgusting, to say the least.

[DCDayDreamer]

Today they made me replace a client's disc that came with her DVD player. The thing is, this DVD player also has a NES emulator built in, and the disc is a CD with dozens of NES ROMs.

Bootlegging, warez, piracy, or whatever you want to call it is a lucrative business, there's a lot of money to be made out there from copyright infringement. It's easy and legal in most cases to include freeware software within the hardware (NES emulator within this particular DVD player), by indirectly providing a disc with ROMs the hardware manufacturer would be exonerated from any responsibility towards the contents of the disc (unless the disc 'legitimately' contained the hardware company approval via a logo, copyright statement etc.).

[DaMadFiddler]

There are some others, including some from companies well known around here, such as Philco.

Philco hasn't been a "real" company in decades. They were original a battery company back in the early 1900s, and became the top-selling maker of radios in the 1930s. They also had some success in early television, with one of their most memorable designs being the striking (but somewhat unreliable) Predicta series:



Neat, yes, but they had a fatal flaw: this was at the junction between two technologies: the end of vacuum tubes, and the beginning of printed circuit boards. Transistors weren't widespread enough for use in most consumer electronics yet, so the Predictas were still entirely tube-based. However, to cut costs on manufacturing, they had started using the then-new PCB technology to replace hand-wired chassis (basically a metal box containing point-to-point wiring between all the components). However, tubes generate a lot of heat, and PCBs--especially the early ones--tend to break down when exposed to too much heat. It was very common for the section of the boards around the tube sockets to deteriorate, causing the TV to stop working properly. They're also incredibly difficult to open up and service, as everything is packed into a very tight space and those crumbly old PCBs are both delicate and difficult to work on. Even most tube-electronics repairmen hate working on Predictas.

After the problems with the Predictas combined with diminishing market share and other issues, they eventually sold their business to Ford (one of their most lucrative remaining products was car radios, and they were one of Ford's primary suppliers). Ford sold the name to Philips in 1981, and it has changed names several times since then. The Philco name is now licensed to a number of (mostly crap) electronics manufacturers in different countries, and lives on as a brand name only, with no connection whatsoever to the original company.

This is the kind of useless junk that has taken up space in my memory since I started collecting and restoring antiques. To close, here are some of the most memorable Philco radios:

[mankrip]

Today, we were forced to refund a PS2 bought by a client. The reason? It doesn't read pirated disks.

My workplace has a policy of not giving any warranty beyond the manufacturer's warranty, so none of the consoles sold by us is modded, to ensure the manufacturer's warranty is not void. Also, modding them would increase the costs.

And then, there came an angry old guy saying we cheated on him by not explicitly telling him that the console didn't read pirated disks. I wanted to punch the guy in the face. After the fact, what I said to my coworkers is that we don't need to tell that to any client because running pirated disks is not a right.

[Specially Cork]

because running pirated disks is not a right.

I can expect my Windows PC to run software beyond what Microsoft licenses. It's not too much of a stretch to expect my Playstation to run software beyond what Sony licenses.

[mankrip]

Yes, but it's not the hardware (or OS) vendor's responsibility to ensure such compatibility - and this is what pissed me off, because the guy came in angry and claimed that the PS2 was broken and that we cheated on him simply because it didn't run pirated disks.

Anyway, I should be stuck in this job at least for the following three months.