Can Hollywood Learn From Intuit?

Ironica writes "Readers will recall the furor over Intuit's activation scheme for TurboTax 2002, which prompted a lawsuit and subsequently was removed from TT2002 and all future products. Here's an interesting editorial on CNNMoney suggesting that other DRM proponents could take a page out of Intuit's book ... if they have the sense."

Comments

If you had a perfect memory...

[Anonymous Coward]

Would the MPAA/RIAA/etc want you to pay royalties for remembering things?

The problem is not entirly Hollywood's

[TedTschopp]

The problem can also be laid at the feet of the Copy protection software/hardware companies which see Hollywood an opportunity to sell their product into a new market.

They have had a devil of a time trying to sell other software companies for the last 10ish years on the idea, but now they have a new market open and this market isn't as technically sauvey as the Software Industry was back in the late 80's early 90's when we all decided the copy protection wars were not feasible.

Ted Tschopp

Re:One slight problem...

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

In Intuit's case, they actually saw a loss on the books, and realized it was a Bad Thing. Hollywood hasn't seen any such loss, and so doesn't understand.

One might argue that this is because Intuit has competition, while Hollywood is in fact several dominant companies working together in a de facto monopoly.
Losing a customer to a boycott is nothing -- there's a line behind you, skippy.
Losing a customer to your competition, now that's a real problem.

--

Can Hollywood Learn From Intuit?

[ryanr]

No, Hollywood is incapable of learning.

But seriously, I joke, I kid...

Hollywood will learn eventually, after they've been subjected to extreme pressure, loss of profits, and humiliating defeat of any copy protection mechanism they can devise. The same goes for any group of companies that have forgotten they exist because their customers allow them to, and not by some natural right.

Re:Can Hollywood Learn From Intuit?

[fishbowl]

>Do you dislike watching trailers in the theater?

Not at all! I like them very much. Not the self-promotion in the local cinema's trailer, or the slideshow, but I do like the trailers. The ones that represent movies I dislike, I get to see what I'm not missing. All the groaning and cringing I would do during the movie, I'm done with, and I will NEVER be in a position where I think I might enjoy the film. The trailers for the films I *do* like, are part of the experience that is not included in the movie itself.

I remember the first trailer for Alien, back in '77 I think. I knew that was a movie I had to see. Think about how you feel when you see clips for movies you really anticipate, like Star Wars (admit it), or LOTR.

>Do you dislike the fact that when you watch a
>DVD, you often can't skip opening sections on a
>disk?

What I dislike about it, is the theory that the production company owns both my DVD *AND* my $20.

For rentals, I don't really give a crap. I think it would be cool if there was a writeable trailer section so the rental places could put localized adverts, current trailers, etc. It doesn't really bother me that I can't skip them, but it does bother me a lot that it's a crime in the US to make a device that can skip them. I don't really believe the DMCA will stand the test of time, but I also realize that "the test of time" takes a hundred years or more.

>Do you still go to the theater

Hardly ever. Only for the films that I really, really don't want to miss. The ones that come every 5-10 years, if that. LOTR. Maybe I'll go see the Matrix, probably not. Certain foreign films that I'll only ever see screened one time and might never make it to home video. This has more to do with my life priorities than my regard for the film industry.

>and rent/buy DVDs?

Again, there are certain films whose subjects or whose importantce transcend "entertainment" and are essential. I'd buy them for 4x the price. Rentals are cheap enough also, and I don't see the problem, DRM or no.

My problem with the restrictions of digital copyright stems entirely from my views as a musician. I do not appreciate being constrained in my means of production by artificial barriers. Many of the barriers between amateur and professional music production are created specifically to raise the bar, and are not really based that much on technical merit.

Also the whole attitude about copying music actually works against the independent artist who doesn't seek any money at all from his work, but would like it to be heard, shared, etc.

Whenver I hear something that implies that "downloading copyrighted material" is always wrong, or a crime, I see red -- because that blanket statement would also cover my own copyrighted work. But what if I *want* it to be downloaded, P2P'd, etc? Copyright law is going in a direction that will severely curtail the rights of independent content producers.

Re:One slight problem...

[letxa2000]

Maybe, but you might be underestimating what a "normal user" is these days. What you say might have been true in, say, 1998... but these days I think most people at least are aware of the fact that there is "free" music out there, many of them get it free while those people may pass it to their friends which might not be able to get it for free.

Not to mention I think that those people who have enough money to buy any significant number of CDs at $20 a pop are very likely to be people that also have enough money to get a PC and use it.

MP3s and P2P are no longer the realm of techies...

Boycott Intuit.

[mrsam]

I've been using TurboTax for eight years now. This "product activation" nonsense was a rude surprise for me this year. I certainly did my part in bitching, pissing, and moaning as loud as I could.

And, I might take this opportunity to mention that product activation wasn't the only thing that made doing last year's taxes with TurboTax a completely disgusting, and revolting experience. Almost every other screen was filled with Intuit's sales pitches for other unrelated garbage that I didn't need, or want. First, Turbotax haggled me to upgrade to a premium version of TurboTax. All they want is my credit card number to "unlock" the extra crap; there's nothing to download. Of course, after reviewing the list of additional "features" in the premium version it was pretty clear that no more than, perhaps, 1% of people could possibly use it.

Then, TurboTax haggled me to use Intuit's electronic filing service, against for a premium cost. Then, another sales pitch to upgrade to premium TurboTax features, Finally, TurboTax wanted me to pay for storing my tax return in an "electronic vault", for safekeeping (whatever the fuck it means).

This year, doing my taxes was a totally nauseating experience. Literally, my wallet had a bullseye painted right on it, in bright red colors, and Intuit tried everything they could to grab as much of it as they can. I JUST WANT TO DO MY TAXES AND LEAVE MY WALLET ALONE.

Intuit is hoping that this controversy is over. But I hope that it's not over. Even though Intuit is now furiously backpedaling and groveling that's not enough for me. I will follow through on my promise, and no matter how many times Intuit will now swear that their spyware/DRM is history, I will still use a competing product next year. And if I like it, I'll continue to use it. If not, I'll perhaps go back to Turbotax the following year.

I firmly believe that Intuit should not be allowed to get a get-out-of-jail-free card simply by issuing a bunch of warm-sounding press releases, full of vague and nebulous promises. They must still have to deal with the consequences of their decisions, and I'm hoping that others feel the same way too, and will still use some other competing tax preparation package next year.

Re:Boycott Intuit.

[Jardine]

Then, TurboTax haggled me to use Intuit's electronic filing service, against for a premium cost

Your government doesn't have a free e-filing service? Every tax program in Canada will generate a .tax file which you can then upload to the government's site. The file is just a comma seperated file so any spreadsheet program should be able to read it. Something like 70% of the people in my area e-filed rather than mailing last year. I didn't realize the US was so far behind that you need a specialized service to do this.

Re:Boycott Intuit.

[IronClad]

I certainly did my part in bitching, pissing, and moaning as loud as I could.

I did too, making a point that I had been their customer for 6 years straight. In fact, I don't thinks the issue is "Can Hollywood learn from Intuit?" Rather, the issue is, "Can Hollywood's consumers learn from Intuit's consumers?"

Piss. Moan. Tell them about the titles you will *not* buy because of it. Compare them to seal-clubbers and boys who wear Jeff Foxworthy shirts to school. Tell your neighbor all about region coding. Send your congressman a voided check saying "this is what you would have got if not for your support of the DMCA (or replace with the name of your particular nasty legislation)."

Even an issue backed by a silent majority of consumers will fail without a vocal minority getting the message across in this day of megacorps, highest-bidder legislation, and perpetual copyright.

As simple as that!

[Anonymous Coward]

The FAQ:
Q: Can Hollywood Learn From Intuit?
A: No.

Re:Fat Chance ...

[The Bungi]

Intuit has competition from Quicken

In the dog-eat-dog world of tax preparation software, there's nothing worse than being assaulted by a product made down the hall from you - which fits in an entirely different niche.

Worse fate than death, I tell you.

In the meantime, Intuit does have competition from H&R Block and a few others.

Re:One slight problem...

[Lord Kestrel]

I get my concept of a normal user from supporting my sisters with their computers/tvs/vcrs. You would think that they could figure out how to operate them correctly, but they seem to lose all sense and knowledge when they approach anything electronic in nature.

While I do know many younger people have no problems with, and infact embrace technology, it would seem to me like many/most people still haven't a clue how to download music, or copy it onto a cd.

Re:DVD's without protection

[agrippa_cash]

That was without macrovision: http://slashdot.org/articles/02/06/13/1650225.shtm l?tid=172 They didn't want to pay the MV royalty. Tapes are a pain in the ass to copy and DVD's are encrypted. The bottom line involved was not one dictated by consumer satisfaction.

Maybe timothy & slash readers should read firs

[Anonymous Coward]

Think Intuit is giving up on drm?

Maybe timothy and the slashdot crowd should check their facts first, before crediting Intuit with anything.

Looks like Intuit's spin is working wonders.

D.R.M. is D.U.M.

[Another AC]

So Apple sold 2 million songs in about 2 weeks at 99 cents each, right?

Why would these people buy these songs instead of just downloading them for free on Kazaa/Gnutella/etc?

Getting a song for free:

- cost: $0
- ease of use: pretty easy
- time to get: depends
- availability: depends
- quality: depends
- platform: mp3s will play on any system
- usage restrictions: none
- legality: not legal.

Getting a song from apple:

- cost: 99c / song, $9.99 / album
- ease of use: really easy
- time to get: really fast
- availability: about 20% of commercial music
- quality: guaranteed good.
- platform: mac only
- usage restrictions: medium-restrictive D.R.M.
- legality: legal.

And those are basically all the issues.

So apparently, ease of use + time to get + quality + legal vs cost + platform + restrictions results in $1 million a week for apple. Not too shabby!

Now what if they dropped the last two strikes against them (besides cost).. platform and usability restrictions? As they upped their cd library they'd soon find the ONLY advantage Kazaa would have would be price, whereas apple would now win (or at least tie) in every other category! How much money would they maybe gross then?

They make $1M a week now right? Let's say opening up the service to non-mac users (95%+ of the users) only triples their revenues. Let's say dropping all restrictions on use again doubles the usage. Finally, let's say them quintupling their collection to include everything ever recorded doubles their revenues again. It looks like they stand to make about $625 Million a year from this service.. if they'd just loosen up on the DRM (and complete their selection)!