Piracy/ Intelectual Property

[Lucas]

Yes, the M$ Dicattor$hip can use it's Monopolistic weight to lean on the hardware manufacturers in order to manipulate & force higher software prices onto the unsuspecting public but now it's backfired in their faces with the explosion of lower cost linux based devices like android tablets & smart phones.

Piracy would almost disappear if the monopolistic corporations like Microsoft & Apple were not allowed to continue with their corrupt anti-trust activities against a free & open competitive market that includes all the Open Source companies.

Instead of competing they buy legislation, politicians, software patents etc etc & litigate against the competition (Apple vs Samsung...etc etc).

I think you have a point here, you see, not always I'm going to disagree with everything you have to say, there may be a common ground as in the present circumstances.

 

[elclandestino]

Company A used to exist in the 90s when product X was recorded onto an OLD CD format & packaged in a nice shiny cardboard Box... but died out like the Dinosaurs when Company B appeared in the horizon with a newer business marketing model.

Company B operates independently & sells it's software through the Internet as a download...it uses youtube, facebook & various other social media tools as a marketing strategy..sure some of it's software will be pirated but that is more than made up for by the extra sales volume & service revenue that the company now enjoys due to the fact that it's product is more competitively priced due to lower operating costs.

Company B's business strategy is to build strong loyalty & trust with their clients as well as providing a superior product at an overall lower cost due to the fact that it runs on a different business model.

Boxed software, yes

SaaS, no

Sound business model and you're good to go

 

[elclandestino]

The major reason for piracy is the lack of alternatives and archaic business models.
This lack of innovation is 100% due to the fact that there are now only 6 companies that own and run all the media in the US.

http://i.imgur.com/DBvwb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4wll8.jpg

These companies rely on outdated sales methods that are long past their sale by date. Kids now don't want to go and buy a cd/dvd. They want to download their media and watch it now and they can due to a large number of very dodgy websites providing what they want because the big media companies don't provide them with what they want.

The perfect example of a company doing something right is Valve in the games industry.

Valve made some software called steam that allows you to buy games and download them however many times you want.

They let you buy the latest pc games without having to worry about different countries stupid import laws but better than that they actually have innovative sales which are converting one time game pirates into actual buyers.

A long time ago you could buy any game you wanted and install it on any machine as many times as you wanted. Then over time in a bid to combat "piracy" more and more draconian Digital Rights Management systems came out until some of the latest games required you to stay online constantly to even play the game in single player mode. It got to the point that some people were having to download the pirated versions just so they could play the game that they owned.

DVD's are the same with their un-skipable ads etc and if i bought a movie on VHS/DVD i believe i have every right to download it to watch on my laptop/phone.

Treating your customer as a criminal doesn't work and steam has proved this.



A whole other argument is crazy copyright laws. I fully expect companies such as Disney to push for longer and longer laws. I doubt i'll ever see even the beginning of rock and roll entering the public domain.

Copyright was originally to promote the creation of new works but now it just seems to be to protect a few companies profits.

I say reset copyright back to 30-40 years and watch the huge innovation on people using the new public domain media from the 60's and 70's.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Copyright_term.svg

It's real fun to see the corporate zombies crying and screaming

 

[notebook.fix]

For all those interested in keeping the internet free from Gov/Corporate control...this is a must see!
SOPA, & the other internet control moves in the US congress count on the public's indifference & apathy. Please watch.

SOPA is NOT dead, it's just sleeping.

Fabe, I understand your anti-piracy stance & agree with you in principal, but what is presented in this
video sheds light on something far more sinister.

The bottom line is, CBS Viacom, CNET, Microsoft, Disney, Warner/AOL, AT&T etc etc all knowingly
& willingly distributed copyright infringement software through their networks for a decade to encourage the explosion of piracy.

They even distributed DRM removal programs.

Why? Why would they? "How ridiculous!" you would rightly say.

Find out here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WJIuYgIvKsc