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[David Aikema]

If anyone on the list is following this conversation...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Aikema <daikema at gmail.com>
Date: May 30, 2005 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: [CS-FSLUG] Sydney Morning Herald: Cuba to Dump Windows for Linux
To: evangelinux at thefreelyproject.org


On 5/26/05, Don Parris <evangelinux at thefreelyproject.org> wrote:
> The theaters are movie theaters (excuse my euro-spelling there).  As I
> stated, both were examples from "Free Culture".  My point was that you can
> compete in a libre market - even against gratis.  It just means you have to
> adapt your way of thinking.  It requires a new business model - one that can
> make the best use of the current and emerging technologies.

Is this the chunk of the book you were referring to?

-----------
"This competition has already occurred against the background of
"free" music from p2p systems. As the sellers of cable television have
known for thirty years, and the sellers of bottled water for much more
than that, there is nothing impossible at all about "competing with
free." Indeed, if anything, the competition spurs the competitors to
offer new and better products. This is precisely what the competitive
market was to be about. Thus in Singapore, though piracy is rampant,
movie theaters are often luxurious—with "first class" seats, and meals
served while you watch a movie—as they struggle and succeed in finding
ways to compete with "free."
-----------

When I searched the text, this was the only reference to the word
Singapore, and don't see the word thriving used in conjunction with
it.  Here it seems that the product is essentially valueless, and
you're just paying for the add-ons.  (Why couldn't I just buy my own
"first class" seat, order take-out, and watch a movie that way without
paying?).

I here a lot of people pointing fingers at studies suggesting that
Microsoft comes out on top, suggesting that Microsoft had a hand in
the results.  While this may be true, when I looked at the document I
only found a single usage of "thriving" and this was not in context of
free software/whatever usage.  I also failed to find, when skimming
the list of sources for the book, any studies dealing with the
profitability of free culture.

I simply see a couple of examples given - that of bottled water and
that of cable television, without the indication that this can be
applied to all (or even most) economic activities.

> Take a look at Creative Commons' discussion lists.  One is about a hybrid
> licensing concept.  I haven't had time to look too closely, and while I
> think I disagree with one of their major tenets, it is nevertheless
> interesting and worth consideration.  It might at least spark other ideas.

I don't think that I have the time to dig through those lists now, but
perhaps at some later point I'll get around to looking into this.

David Aikema