This is pretty typical of Cory but here’s a real world scenario that I have butted heads with today. I’m doing casual IT support for a small non-profit group and they decided some time ago to shift to the Mac platform. I understand their motivation and basically it kind of works for them but they didn’t completely embrace the Mac ideology, like many other Mac users they kept using Microsoft Office.
Now Office is a bloated piece of shit but the problem is that a large proportion of computer users in an office environment know only one way of doing something, they use Microsoft Office to write stuff, create spreadsheets, make slide shows and check their email. They could use Open Office for example and pay nothing and do everything they already do but it doesn’t feel like MS Office and it doesn’t look as glitzy as MS Office so they stay in their comfy little boxes. And they pay for it.
Ok, this is where Cory’s piece gets interesting. With cloud computing and web apps you don’t need to install an office app. Microsoft has recognised this threat to their business model and jumped on board the same bandwagon but the older business model is still alive and kicking. If you want the features of MS Office including all the bling then you have to pay for it. Don’t try cheating the system with one product key on multiple installs because MS is a wakeup to that and they check on the network for product ID packets, however the money men recognise that paying the full price is likely to be a disincentive to sales so they offer all sorts of discount prices.
But what the hell? WTF can’t I copy it? Because of the DRM/copyright philosophy is motivated by a desire to maximes profits not to facilitate my work or my creativity. Oh of course how silly. But what if Microsoft went bust because people stopped buying their crappy software? Would offices around the globe suddenly collapse in a heap? Highly unlikely, people would just adjust and life would go on but as things stand they don’t have to adjust right now because paying for things is so bloody easy!
Which is the other end of Cory’s vision. Free software as in GPL licensed open source or the creative equivalent of Creative Commons are valid for individuals who can sustain an income from somewhere else but the software industry model espoused by Microsoft is still highly dependent on selling units of something, in the case of Office its a serial number that validates with Microsoft. And a goodly proportion of the western world is addicted to the Office interface.
What is really bizarre is the fact that a free alternative like Open Office is often sneered at by the same people who embrace the Microsoft bloatware who in turn scour the net and expect creative work from people like Cory to be free. In other words, the market place for ideas is distorted by the monopoly power that Microsoft exerts on people’s capacity to pay. Surely it is more desirable to have money going to creativity than propping up the Microsoft empire, especially when the latter is based on illegal foundations. It’s a bit of a paradigm shift but it would have significant implications for the way we live as human beings.
Although Rupert and Micro$oft tried to steal the limelight last week with their joint venture on Foxtel the big story appeared in the NY Times months ago where it wrote
Google and Intel have teamed with Sony to develop a platform called Google TV to bring the Web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes.
Strangely the story in the Oz avoided any mention of Google TV however it did disclose the fact that News owns the OZ and 25% of Foxtel. However readers of this blog might suspect the Oz’s motivation since Rupert and Micro$oft are allies in the fight to prevent world domination by the evil Google monster.
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago at 10:21 am. Add a comment
Bernard Keene over at Crikey trotted out this little gem in the free Crikey newsletter that added to the clutter already existing in my inbox -
Foxtel and Microsoft joined forces this morning to announce a fascinating new partnership!!!!
Fascinating? New? what planet is Bernard on? Microsoft and News Corp (part owners of Foxtel along with Telstra and a few others) are monopolists pure and simple, in Microsoft’s case it’s been proven in the US courts and is demonstrated daily by the 90% + of computer users who sustain the Microsoft monopoly. Less than a year ago when Murdoch started to firm up his battle lines with Google, News Corp and Microsoft announce this little pact.
So what is actually surprising about Foxtel and Microsoft getting it together on another media platform? Possibly the fact that it took almost nine months…oh how silly of me! Congratulations guys.
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago at 6:11 pm. Add a comment
Not long ago I linked to Jason Clacanis’s video where he talked about the potential for News Corp to play off Bing against Google and today the Financial Times has another more concrete looking story which suggests that the Microsoft News marriage is all but done and dusted. News brings a fat dowry of rich media and Microsoft brings Bing and a huge desire to rule the known universe. Should be a beautiful marriage which is sure to beget some truly bastardised progeny.
Normally on the occasion of the happy nuptials one is supposed to wish the newlyweds all sorts of good tidings so in the spirit of the occasion I guess I can say that if ever a couple were made for each other, it is News.corpse and the Borg. I’m guess we will just have to wait for the Windows only version of the newspaper we have to have.
This could become a very interesting little threesome if Google decides to start stitching up some content but unfortunately I think it does herald the beginning of the end of the “free” net. Sure plenty of free stuff will remain but the market for so-called “rich media content” on the internet has just got serious.
UPDATE!
Just for good measure I have decided to disallow the Bing bot from my site until Microsoft decides to offer me money, it seems only fair and reasonable. I mean if the stuff on Murdoch’s sites is worth money…
Is this a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend?
When Rupert talked recently about thieves he referred to Google and Microsoft as well as Ask but this seems like a obvious development, one that probably favours Microsoft because they gain more than just the business in search, it also strengthens their ongoing efforts to monopolise the server OS landscape. It’s probably Murdoch’s last card but it fits in well with how the debate has shifted in recent years away from the monopoly that is Microsoft to the the scary Google monster. Of course that debate has in part been driven by opnions and IT departments that are already firmly tied to the Microsoft product.
Particularly worrying is the idea that you might just have to use Bing to find something, just like you have to use Windows to run certain software. Gates and Balmer must be drooling, their shared vision of ruling the world might still come true.
Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:53 pm. 1 comment
In today’s world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body…A harmonized, global patent system would resolve many of the criticisms leveled at national patent systems over unmanageable backlogs and interminable pendency periods.
Meanwhile…in May, a jury ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million for infringing on a patent held by Canada’s I4i.
Now, this is insane. I4i is just money hungry oh yeah, and the lawyers too! Again, another thing to destroy the economy. They only have 30 employees versus Microsoft's 75,000 employees! Who's the better company in providing jobs to the people… yet companies as such bleed good companies dry. Sad part, the US court is supporting it? Wake up people! Wake up! Once and for all!
The economy is God, there is only one God and God’s Word should prevail.
Not long ago I 
