[lbo-talk] MySQL to go public

Jean-Christophe Helary fusion at mx6.tiki.ne.jp
Thu Feb 1 18:34:36 PST 2007


There was just this article published yesterday:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/drm_editorial/page4.asp

DRM in the BitTorrent and Broadband Age.

It talks a lot about convenience and consumption.

JC

On 2 févr. 07, at 01:18, Chuck wrote:


> Colin Brace wrote:
> A company like Red Hat can make lots of dough
>> selling its services, but if ever it were to claim proprietary
>> interest in the source code and/or make decisions that weren't in the
>> public good (alas rather narrowly defined in this context), people
>> could and would quickly jump ship. This issue is all the more germane
>> given the truly onerous Digital RIghts Management (DRM) features of
>> Vista, which are described in all their gory detail in the article
>> which Dwayne alluded to in another thread earlier today.
>
> The fact that Red Hat is making money off of a free product is very
> interesting. It flies in the face of the notion that a company has
> to sell physical products and control everything about the
> production and distribution of those products.
>
> I'm not the first person to say this, but there have been quite a
> few people who have pointed out that the music industry can still
> make money even if large amounts of music and content are being
> obtained for free (piracy). When I talk about this with friends, I
> outline three ways why the music industry can still make money when
> file-sharing is pervasive and popular:
>
> 1) Convenience - Even though file-sharing is easy, not everybody
> can figure out how to use the software. Most people don't have the
> time to download files through Limewire or even through official
> services like iTunes. The success of ITunes proves this point, as
> it has made it easy for mroe people to download music, manage their
> collections, and transfer it to portable listening devices. CDs are
> still selling. People will pay money for convenience, which is
> obvious given that the American economy revolves around convenience.
> 2) Collectibles - People will spend money on collectibles. That's
> why almost any house or apartment has a collection of CDs. Some of
> you know music geeks whose walls are lined with record albums.
> People will buy concert t-shirts, posters, special editions, and
> Grateful Dead recordings.
> 3) Services to bands - While many bands and musicians dislike the
> music industry, many of them still have a desire to be popular.
> Making arbitrary musicians popular is something the music industry
> does well. The industry can provide promotional services to
> musicians, provide business services, and organize shows and tours.
>
> Please don't forward this to the music industry. I don't want to
> give them any money-making ideas. ;-)
>
> Chuck



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list