I just noticed this being linked on Slashdot. Basically an article saying that seeding a market with free stuff can help promotion. Of course it can.

 

What I was surprised not to see though was an appreciation of how Microsoft's success in the office can largely be attributed to the widespread piracy of its products.

 

I should explain.

 

A few years ago, my then two year old daughter found my Microsoft Office disc, and kindly drew all over it, scratching it to oblivion. Not a problem, as I had Office installed already. I thought no more about it until the inevitable disc crash caused me to have to reinstall everything onto a new drive.

 

Not having the appropriate disc (which never seemed to ask me for any kind of installation code) but having paid for the software, I felt justified in borrowing the discs (and install code) from a friend's copy of Office, and installing onto my PC.

 

Fast forward a year and suddenly Windows XP is telling me that I should register for Windows Genuine Advantage, to ensure that all my MS software is legit. It is...I think. So I do, and no problem. Just a niggling feeling that someone, somewhere in Redmond might be thinking I have a dodgy copy of Office 2000.

 

Fast forward another year (getting a bit like Click, now) and it's time for my annual disc crash. More of a total PC failure (hint, don't buy Toshiba laptops) . This time, when it's time to install again, I decide to check out OpenOffice instead. It's free, and to all intents and purposes exactly the same as Microsoft Office. I really don't need any more features than Office 97 offered, so if OpenOffice is a little behind, who cares?

 

So, for the last year, I've used OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. Never caused me any problems, other than minor internal embarassment when I did a presentation at Microsoft (nobody noticed I was using OpenOffice, which is more than can be said for the time I attended their Xbox conference with a PlayStation bag) .

 

OK, so far, so dull. If you've read this blog before you might know I'm a recent convert to Ubuntu, and now use it as my main operating system at home and at work. But I got to Ubuntu by the following thought process:

 

1. I can't install MS Office as my disc is broken. I could use a 'borrowed' copy, but I really don't like pirate software so...

2. I'll install OpenOffice.

3. Wow...OpenOffice is really good! Maybe if I don't need MS Office, I don't need their operating system either. I don't really want to shell out for Vista, so...

4. I'll install Ubuntu.

5. Outlook was always a bit of a nightmare so I'll also use Gmail, Google Calendar and, in the future I imagine, Google Docs and Spreadsheets too.

6. Good heavens. I'm not using any Microsoft software any more.

 

Had I been comfortable using a pirate copy of MS Office, I'd probably still be using Windows. And that's the point. People use Microsoft software because everyone else has it. If everyone else didn't have it, they wouldn't use it. BUT a lot of the people only have it because they've pirated it. And, BTW, 'pirated' includes pretty much every company out there that has put it on one or two more machines than they're strictly supposed to.

 

So, I'm not using Windows, or Office. What hasn't changed is my working environment (Google Apps lets me access all my mail, calendar and an increasing amount of my documents from any computer with a browser). I don't care what operating system I'm running any more.

 

If Microsoft somehow made it impossible to pirate their software (eg Windows Genuine Advantage) then those seeking free software would be forced down the OpenOffice or Google/Yahoo Apps routes. Ignoring the fact that OpenOffice is 99.9% compatible with MS Office anyway, this means that Microsoft's ubiquity would be diminished. And without that ubiquity, maybe someone might not buy MS Office after all.

 

I've alluded before to The Death Of Intellectual Property (TM). One day soon I'll write an article on that but, for now, remember that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". In the eighties. Tell that to Michael Dell.

 

It's all up for grabs. Fun times!

 

 

 

Over the weekend, rather than being a good dad I pretty much became obsessed with Linux.

 

I never really developed the whole 'I hate Microsoft Operating systems' mindset beloved of the more lonely techie. I rather like Microsoft software, it usually works OK and most people have it. It's not that expensive and it's nicer these days than it used to be (although I think we all miss typing 'win' every now and then). And anyway, Mitchell is much funnier than Webb. Although Super Hans beats them all...and I was about to insert a funny 'he represents this other operating system' gag there but I stopped myself, mainly because I couldn't think of one.

 

Anyway, I have an old PC at home, which I have plugged into a lovely big TV. It acts as a music server, and also allows me to play the occasional downloaded video via the telly without having to lug a laptop into the sitting room. I have been tinkering with it for the last couple of years.....it's become my own personal mid-life crisis. Rather than buying a classic car that doesn't work or joining the Territorial Army, I have elected to annoy my wife my tinkering with a defunct PC that's not quite up to the job of being a home media server.

 

I installed Ubuntu, a distribution of Linux which claims to make installation easy. Guess what? It did.

 

I just booted up the PC from a CD-ROM (which I made from a downloaded image) and it worked. And worked well. Much better than Windows. I tried to play some movies, Ubuntu went away and found the right codecs. I wanted to install some more software, Ubuntu gave me a list to chose from and installed it all for me.

 

I now have a fully-functioning music streaming, video playing, TV recording home media server, running on a nine year old PC, completely free.

 

This is just the first step on my road to Damascus. The thing is, if I'm now thinking Linux is better, easier (and freer) than Windows, it's probably only so long before an awful lot of other people do too.

 

I'm going to write about Microsoft again soon but, before I do, I want to install Ubuntu on my laptop too.

 

My wife will be gutted.

 

 

Wow...the big retail announcement out yesterday was that Game Group PLC, the UK's biggest specialist games retailer is to acquire Gamestation, the UK's only other significant games retailer, from Blockbuster for £74 million.

 

For those involved in the games business, this may not be great news.  Game is already a major force, taking something like 35% of the UK games market, and notorious for its aggressive trading terms - demanding 40% margins and sale or return on most products.  Could such terms, and a refusal to change them, be behind the recent spat between Game and Ubi Soft, which will see the former refusing to stock the latter's Oblivion game for PlayStation 3 - despite the game having been a huge seller on Xbox 360? 

 

Clearly, an even more powerful Game, with perhaps 50% or more of the UK games market will become increasingly able to demand whatever trading terms it requires - unless and until the games publishers all have the balls to do something about it en masse (not that we're suggesting an ELSPA cartel would be appropriate, or indeed legal).  Whispers are already going around the games industry about a possible monopolies and mergers/OFT investigation of this proposed acquisition, although this is more likely to be wishful thinking than based upon any real likelihood of a challenge.

 

Scary times for publishers - Game and Gamestation will continue to push preowned software in preference to new, such titles often 'churning' through five or more users, lining the retailer's pockets each time with nothing for those that made the game.  Whatever you might say about the supermarkets, HMV, Virgin, Dixons et al, they don't try to push second hand stock onto consumers.  Less money to the games publishers and developers and more for the retailer means less money spent developing new games...which can only be bad for gamers and the industry alike. 

 

In the longer term, of course, digital distribution will see high street retailers wither away as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo control game distribution via a broadband link.  That's a long way off, though, and we'll see more IP-owning casualties before retail is finally taken out of the equation.

 

 

 

So, many of you by now will have heard of the leaked encryption code for the AACS copy protection system used by HD-DVD and Blu Ray players.

 

Digg, one of the world's most popular websites (and one of the reasons everybody's banging on repeatedly about Web 2.0) allows users to post and vote upon news stories they like (or 'digg').  Digg employees have spent the last few days frantically trying to remove references to sites featuring the 'secret' encryption code, following a cease and desist order from an unnamed organisation.

 

The effect of this has been for tens of thousands of Digg users to repost the link over and over, causing Digg to crash and making it impossible for the link to be removed.  Digg's founder, Kevin Rose, has relented, saying the company would no longer delete such posts, even though that might lead to the site being shut down by lawsuits.

 

"After seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be," he wrote on Digg's blog. "If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

 

Well, it's a nice "I just don't care you know, I'm still on the cutting edge and you users are all great guys" response, but obviously he had no choice. 

 

It's not that big a deal, as far as I know the code is due to expire shortly.  But what is interesting here is just how rapidly news spreads once The Internet decides that someone needs to be taught a lesson.  The encryption code was actually released some months back, but, frankly, most people aren't interested in cracking HD-DVDs.  Only when the cease and desist orders became public knowledge did the code spread around like wildfire.

 

The result of the legal threats has clearly been the complete opposite to what was planned.  The code is so widely distributed online now that it cannot possibly be considered to be confidential - it's entirely 'out there' in the public domain, and surely anyone can now link to it without fear of reprisals?

 

What we need to remember:

1. There is no uncrackable copy protection.

2. If you copy protect something, someone will want to crack it, and show how clever they are by giving away as many copies as possible of your IP.

3. Legal challenges to user-generated content quickly create massive user resistance, and global awareness of whatever it was you were trying to keep quiet about. 

 

Everyone now knows you can crack HD-DVD and Blu Ray....and now that that Pandora's box has been opened, you can't just close it with a new code.  It's all part of the 'death of intellectual property'...but more on that anon.

 

 

One common theme I find when I am talking to smaller companies, particularly those involved in pitching products or services to larger ones, is that they have absolutely no idea whether or not a potential client is interested in them.

 

Why not?  Because the potential client hasn't said 'no'.  Instead, what invariably happens is that the potential client vanishes.  They don't answer emails, they don't answer the phone, they don't return calls.

 

What is this all about?  Are they trying to shield you from the pain of rejection?  Are they too embarassed to reveal to you that they're not the person you need to speak to?  Or that they're very busy this week, that their budget has been cut and they can no longer do a deal, or that they're just not interested?

 

I make it a point of telling people, when they first pitch me something, that I will tell them very quickly if I am not interested.  And I do.  And it's the right thing to do.  These people want to close some business and, if they're diligent and hardworking, will keep pushing at doors until one opens.  Give them a break - either let them in or tell them it's locked.

 

A few years back, a small startup games developer approached me to help them build their business.  They'd done multimedia work in the past, and were looking to move over to games development.  They had a bunch of demo and design work, and had spent months if not years on an engine, burning through the equity on their houses to make something really special. 

 

It was dreadful.  Clearly they just weren't the people to make a videogame (it's pretty hard you know).  They had apparently met with a number of publishers about their concept.  Guess what?  Nobody had said 'no'.  But they were proving a little elusive.  I took a deep breath and told them the truth.  It wasn't going to happen.  They were wasting their money and their lives chasing a dream.  I did it nicely, gently and politely.  I showed them the kind of products they were up against.  They admitted immediately what they already knew - they were fighting a losing battle.  I was worried I would upset the MD, a most charming and hardworking woman, and very competent in her own area of expertise.  She called me a 'superstar', and abandoned the project.  That conversation saved her losing tens of thousands more pounds on something that would never happen.  She got a job and got her life back.  Why did it take me to say 'no'?  Why was everyone else prepared to let her mess her life up?  I still have no idea.

 

So, let's lay down a few rules:

1. If someone you don't know 'cold calls' you, you don't have to call back.  Life's too short to call back everyone that thinks I might want new windows.  The same applies to spam email.  I have enough Cialis thank you.

2. If someone you do know calls or emails you, return the call.  If you're too busy to meet, or can't see that there would be any productive business done, say so.  It's not rude to say 'no'.  It's rude to ignore the call.

3. If you have met someone, and they have pitched something to you, and you're not interested in it, say 'thanks, but no thanks'.  If they keep harassing you after that, you can ignore them, but at least say no once.

 

I think the way to defeat this ignorance is to confront it head on.  If someone doesn't say 'no' to you, and you've given them three chasing calls or emails,  next time you see them ask them (and you will, it's a small world we all work in) why they didn't.  If they want something from you, politely remind them that, last time you dealt with them, you were frustrated that they suddenly went quiet, and ask that they don't allow this to happen again.  No need to be rude, this is all about eliminating that kind of ignorance.

 

We can defeat this menace together.