Sony doesn't own SoFo. They just bought some of their software...like V4.

Question - I know obviously all this stuff is currently up in the air and none of us really know what's going to happen. But assuming that Sony decide to carry on the SoFo products as we know them (here's to hoping...), legally, can the Sonic Foundry name live on with these apps? Or, would they turn into Sony Vegas and Sony Sound Forge? I really don't like the sound of that!

Just curious...

Ben

Sonyc Foundry

Welcome to Wegas Rideo v 5.0

Roop based audio

Hey round eyes want good deal?

Bear - that's a bit close to the knuckle. Whatever happens with the buyout, I hope it doesn't spawn a bout of racism.

ttravis - good one!

Ben

Can hardly wait for the manual changes: "Please to make care to not have difference in timecode from video stripe to audio workstation layout. Both must be agreeable to each other."

Well I certainly hope no one took my Wegas Rideo as rascist. I honestly love Sony products and have a great deal of respect for them. I also have Thai friends who I kid all the time about their r's. They say I sound just as funny when I try to talk Thai!

You know, I'm sure the folks at Sony love seeing posts like yours. And looking at my half-Japanese son, I certainly don't appreciate them. If you're a redneck racist, fine, but do it at home where the rest of us don't have to be subjected to it.

No, I'm not a redneck racist, but that's all I will say at this point, since nothing would convince you otherwise. Sorry you were offended.

I used to think the online SOFO community was one of the best around, now I wonder if most of you are curling up with a copy of The Turner Diaries at night. Tacky... tacky... tacky.

Shawn

Well, you keep suspecting that Shawn-boy. I have a feeling you know a lot more about the Turner Diaries than I do.

I was raised in a home that entertained guests and friends from all nationalities and creeds, from Middle Eastern to European to African. Never once did my parents even hint that color, race or creed made one better than any one else. Understand how unusual this was considering I was raised by a white, white-collar engineer in often very white neighborhoods.

When I lived in Liberia as a boy I remember vividly the first time I saw an example of racial prejudice. An American who worked with my Dad had hired a Liberian driver to take him somewhere and my Dad let me go along. The American treated the Liberian like dirt. For the first time in my life I saw something ugly up close and at 9 years of age understood what it was and that it was despicable. My father told me sadly that unfortunately there were some sick people in the world and explained that this man must be one of them.

The problem with the politically-correct crowd is that they can't make the distinction between poking fun at cultural differences and genetically-based racism. Guess what? In Asia people grow up speaking another language. Guess what? When they learn English it's hard for them to say r's. Guess what? That's funny! It's NOT racism to joke about it. If I implied they were INFERIOR because of that, THAT would be racism. Thank God my Asian friends have enough self-esteem that they think it's funny too and work hard to correct it. What this has to do with Jon McPhalen's son, who I'm absolutely positive, speaks perfect English and by default, is an American citizen, I don't know!

When a guy kiddingly imitates a French accent coming on to his girlfriend, is she supposed to slap him in the face and say, "You RACIST. How dare you mock the French like that!" Is my blonde-haired sister-in-law supposed to stop making blonde jokes because she's demeaning blondes? When I try to pronounce a word in Thai and the Thai women start giggling at how poorly I pronounce it, do I call them racists? Do I try to have my Swedish friends arrested when they tell jokes that make us Norwegians look dumb. Do they beat me up when I tell Sven and Ollie jokes that make them look foolish. NO! We all have a good laugh.

Distinctions in life are important, but the far left politically correct crowd doesn't have that ability, long ago having ceded reason for creed. They don't understand the difference between culture and genetics. Up jerks the knee if they even suspect there is a remote reason they might be allowed to unctiously correct someone else who "might" (therefore must) be incorrect. If I had referred to some physical characteristic of the Japanese, as Bear tried to imply with his sly, but completely mistaken, analogy about "round eyes," there would be a point here. But I did not imply racial superiority, except perphaps in the polically-corrected and inflamed eyes of Bear, Jon and Shawn.

Actually, I AM a racist! Guess, what! I think the Chinese are superior to me. It's been proven they have the highest average IQs. Yep, that's probably genetically-based and it shows what a racist I am. Oh, and I think the average Jew is smarter than the average Gentile. I went to school in New Jersey and a third of the class were Jewish, and the smartest kids were Jewish. Elisa Weitz and I were co-editors of the sophomore paper and for every sentence I wrote she could write a paragraph, and each paragraph contained at least 10 words I had to go find the dictionary for. Yep, I'm REALLY prejudiced against the Chinese and Jewish people. I also think the Poles are wonderful people. I really like them. And my friends from Sierra Leone and Liberia are all the same. How? You know what, they're all really great people. (Notice how I lumped those Africans together and made judgements about them! Get those stocks ready!!!)

So I will concede to having offended the politcally-correct and I apologize to the Vegas forum for not remembering how many of these types inhabit America now thus turning a mild thread into anything but a Vegas-related one, but I will not apologize for racism, because I am not a racist.

Good morning, Paul.
Well said. I'm not sure Jon McPhalen's complaint was provoked particularly by your attempted joke. However, making fun of the accent speakers of one language reveal when they start speaking another language is not racist. No way. You're not a racist Paul. Redneck, though ...
Tor

"Well, you keep suspecting that Shawn-boy. I have a feeling you know a lot more about the Turner Diaries than I do."

Paul, it looks like I really hit a nerve there, even though I never mentioned you by name...curious. BTW, what's up with the personal attack? Also, regarding my "knowlege" of The Turner Diaries, see my reply to Marquart later in the thread.

"When I lived in Liberia as a boy I remember vividly the first time I saw an example of racial prejudice...."

Interesting, my first brush with racism was as a five year old. I was at the downtown Seattle Woolworth's lunch counter, with my mother and older brother. We had just gotten our food and were about to sit down next to a couple of "20ish" guys when, one of them turns to his friend and yells "F****** n******, now I can't f****** eat!" Sadly, that wasn't my last brush with prejudice. One (of many) that sticks out in my mind was as a teenager, I was taking a bus home after school (I went to school in a primarily white neighborhood). The bus was crowded and there weren't any seats available, an elderly lady got on and obviously had trouble standing. Although I wasn't in the section reserved for handicapped and elderly passengers, I offered this person my seat. She turned on me, said "I don't speak to n***** boys" and continued standing (with difficulty).

Paul, I don't doubt that you grew up loving people of all races and you don't have a racist bone in your body - I didn't accuse you of that. Without getting too far a field here, let me just suggest this one thing to you. Comments like this on a public forum are inappropriate. When you are joking with your Thai friends, you are sharing a moment with people who know you - this is a moment of fraternity. When you do it on a public forum where people don't know you, are making fun of a stereotype. Tell me, do you normally make these kinds of comments to people you don't know?

"The problem with the politically-correct crowd is that they can't make the distinction between poking fun at cultural differences and genetically-based racism."

If you're talking about me (and it seems like you are) then you're just wrong, I see the difference quite clearly - I think you may have trouble understanding that people who are racist make these kinds of jokes too, and that we can't tell if you're making fun of how some Japanese people speak English, or if you're making fun of Japanese people. Can you honestly not see how these remarks can be taken the wrong way?

"Distinctions in life are important...... They don't understand the difference between......up jerks the knee if they even suspect there is a remote reason they might be allowed to unctiously correct someone else who "might" (therefore must) be incorrect."

Paul, isn't this Exactly what you've just done? Aren't you trying to "correct" my thinking by chastising my apparent inability to "understand the difference between culture and genetics", without really knowing anything about me? Aren't you accusing me of being " incorrect by default" because I disagree with you? Come on be honest, are you objectively examing what you said and trying to see the context of my statement, or did YOU have a knee-jerk reaction to being painted with the politically correct, reactionary brush of racism?

"But I did not imply racial superiority, except perhaps in the polically-corrected and inflamed eyes of Bear, Jon and Shawn."

I just implied that some on this thread might be reading racist literature at night (and in case you missed it, that was sarcasm) - I just wonder what made you think I was talking about you. Unless you've already made up your mind about who I am and what I think, based on what you think a "polically-corrected" person would say about your comments. Thoughts?

Thanks,

Shawn

I have seen little or no racism of any kind in this forum and I think that you are way off-base. The Turner diaries post was unecessary----

"How come you know about this book, shawnm?"

I've read many books: The Turner Diaries, The Bell Curve, Mein Kampf, The Mismeasure of Man, The Bell Curve, A Culture of Terrorism, A People's History of the United States, The Communist Manifesto, Networks of Power, Guns Germs and Steel, Double Victory, A little Matter of Genocide, Patton On Leadership, The art of Worldly Wisdom and a whole lot more.

But to answer your question, I read books on many different subjects from many different points of view - I think it's important to have a broad world-view. Also, to those that think that I'm just a hyper-sensitive, "politically-corrected" liberal - I encourage you to do as I've done and talk to real racists, show them this thread and ask what they think. You'll find that the spirit of this thread is not far off from what you find in Neo Nazi and other racist newsgroups. Thoughts?

Thanks,

Shawn

"The Turner diaries post was unecessary---- "

Rextillion,

Zorro2 made the statement in another thread "The Japanese aren't stupid, just arrogant". Then on this thread people start poking fun at the way some Japanese people speak English. Are you meaning to suggest that everyone who sees this kind of thing should "just know" that it's all harmless fun, and that no insult towards Japanese people was meant?

Shawn

WHAT ??? Sony bought Vegas ?!?!

Food fight!

Seriously though, I, as a writer and an NYC lawyer, will presume to state the moral of this thread's debate. An internet forum is a public place, and the reality of the modern world is that certain issues have to be carefully phrased in public. You can call the objections leftist dogma but in the end (especially after taking the edge off with a glass of wine or a beer and thinking it all over), it's just courtesy.

That said, as a born Southerner it enrages me when someone offers ME a brief lecture on respect for the ethnic or sexual or etc. identity of others (one lawyer in my office always lies in wait for me to say just the wrong combination of words, and then he springs), but I later realize that the place for even me to blow off steam, make jokes near the line, or just rant and curse in general, is in the privacy of my home. It can be tricky to sit in a quiet room of your home, then, typing a note into an internet forum, and not become briefly unaware that, well, you are not among a few intimate neighborhood buddies. Once the remark is made, we are immediately off on someone's Mission from God and no one sees the undercurrent of apprehension behind the purchase of an important American-made product by representatives of a foreign culture with whom we have little enough in common that we fought an absolutely vicious war with each other in the not distant past. Fear dies hard, but hey, we're human.

Finally, just to balance out the picture, yes, it is also rude to publicly and gratuitously lecture the teller of a near-the-line or over-the-line joke as if you are channeling the spirit of Ralph Nader. Tell you what, one or another of you put together a film or video on each point of view and edit it in Vegas. Communicate with pictures...

For what it's worth, I admit to having a little fun in depicting stereotypes. I worked in Japan for a couple years and have Japanese friends. Trust me, people are people and it is a very small world now. The Japanese, especially since their bubble burst a few years ago have learned that their own version of racism is flawed - humility is a good thing. That said, there is plenty for us to be concerned about - 18 million of SOFO is a drop in the hat for Sony. Chump change, really. If they direct things in the way of a 'consumer' product rather than professional then we will have to look elsewhere for a serious editing product for the future (HD!). Only time will tell if the Japanese have learned their lesson well in the 'global village.' Political correctness will not help in apprehending that fact.

Big Deal!

What a waste of time.

I go make video Now!

Viva Vegas!