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LEGO Responds to Business 2.0
Johannes K. writes "Here is an apparently official news message sent out by LEGO as a response to the recent article on mindstorms in Business 2.0. In it, LEGO states that they think it is great that people hack mindstorms and write their own software for it; in fact, they are convinced it will increase the popularity of the product. (Now there's an attitude you don't see nearly often enough.) However, they do have to protect their trademarks, and LegOS is apparently one of the victims of that. Understandable, I suppose."
That release is interesting. What I'm wonderring is whether their lawyers plan on following that policy. As they say, actions speak louder than words.
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"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller
They could perhaps even license (with low cost but tight restrictions) the name to the software?
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
This is fantastic news for those of us who just must get inside something and have a play. There are some toys that simply must be poked around with (Mindstorms, Sony AIBO, etc). As with previous posters, I'm very much of the opinion that when you buy something, it is yours to do with as you please. I commend Lego for their supportive and encouraging attitude!
It's a great stand by LEGO to embrace the hacktivist community, and like it's been posted it's probably due, at least partly, to that factthat they blew away sales projections. Shouldn't others pick up on this business model? Not give away their products or IP items, but to allow/encourage their users to extend the original concepts in ways they hadn't thought of. Heck, look at Tivo. They have always been very encouraging of its hacking users, and think of the thousands of boxes they've sold due to that very fact alone. (I can talk since the hackability is the reason I have one on order right now.)
Heck, if anything it's really cheap R/D for new features and bugfixes.
'Life is like a spoonful of Drain-O, it feels good on the way down but leaves you feeling hollow inside'
What does the developer of LegOS have to say about renaming? Is he okay with it, or is he being a jerk?
Ham radio gear companies have been marketing radio on the basis they could be modified too.
Almost all the companies making radio gear know that people will try to modify them. Many, (Radio-Shack, Alinco, Yaesu) even sell the special parts to do it !
Of course, once you open your radio, you're responsible for what you do. You mess up, you fix it. No warranties anymore !!!
But this system just works great.
When the radios are not designed to be modified, the company knows they will have a smaller market share and take their business decisions accordingly.
Doesn't surprise me in the slighest, frankly. If nothing else, it's been a long-standing precident with Lego that other companies are allowed to use the same dimensions for building blocks, which allows Lego blocks to be used along-side other brands in the same creation. This is the same mentality that's being applied in this instance, allowing others to create software for use with their blocks.
:) The man I spoke with said they had an easier time teaching kindegartners than those execs. Go figure, eh?
As for the title of my post, I also imagine a large portion of their decision was that the higher-ups in the company didn't know what to make of LegOS, so they asked the MIT Media Lab (who created Lego Mindstorms) what to do. I can just hear their response too, "Heck, we don't care. We would've released the source if you'd let us. What you do about the trademark's up to you, but we think the software's great!" All the while playing with one of their little "crickets" in the Lego group in the basement of the Media Lab.
On a side note, it was very interesting taking a tour of the Media Lab while top-ranking executives from several potential Mindstorms investors were huddled around a large table playing with Lego blocks and trying to write programs for them.
-Gulopine