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Lego Welcomes Hack Of Their Design Program
fdiskne1 writes "We've all heard about big companies suing their customers for hacking a product they purchased. It's about time we hear about a company that welcomes it. One of the most geek-friendly toys has just gotten geek-friendlier. CNet News.com has a story about how the Lego company is cheering the fact that people are hacking their public design program to better fit their customers' needs. Lego has a free program (available for Windows and Mac) that allows a person to put in their own 3D design and the program will tell the customer which Lego 'palettes' they need to order to complete the design. The problem with it was that the palettes each contained a number of bags of different shape and color Lego blocks. If someone needed only one block out of a particular palette, they would end up with many bags of bricks they didn't need. The hack involved someone taking an inventory of how many bricks are included in each bag. The program would then tell the customer how many BAGS of each to order, greatly reducing the number of bricks the customer would have ended up not using in the project. I can think of many companies that wouldn't think of doing such a thing. In fact, I can think of many companies that would intentionally use the flaw in their program to make the customer buy even more."
Well by making a program hacker friendly. They just allow more people to consider using Legos. For all the people who buy legos in bulk and they end up loosing the money on a couple bags out of 100 it is worth it. First they will have more blocks to sell to their core market of smaller bags in the normal lego sets, at a higher price/brick. Also it allows hobiest to save money thus being able to put the money to future projects. So you Gray DeathStar is completed. and you saved a couple bags of legos. The money you saved my allow you to start your next project of a life size Chubaca a couple weeks earlier. Over time it would lead you to have 2 or 3 more projects durring your life time and maximizing sales for Lego.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
All they seem to carry around here are the sets that only make one thing and have lots of specialized, only-one-way-to-use-it parts. No more big box of Dacta gears, shafts, beams, etc. Great for 7 year olds who want to make a pirate ship; not so good for adults who want to make a robot/cd changer/whatever.
I wish that more companies would follow the recent examples of Lego and the BBC; instead of just sending out legal threats and public announcements as a reaction to something they should consider why people are doing it. The BBC realised that people were recording and distributing Dr.Who and while they took a hardline on this (as it is, after all, piracy) they also decided that they should make their shows available on the internet as people are obviously looking for other ways to view their favourite shows. Here, Lego have taken the rational direction and thought "how does it harm us?" and have realised it doesn't, it just opens more creative dimensions. Companies rarely have anything to gain by sending constant legal threats (recent examples include RIAA and the MPAA) and may do well to think of why people are doing it in the first place, and how they can change their stance for mutual benefit.
Matthew Grint Midnight Artists
I'd be curious as to whether Lego has ever considered making blocks using materials other than plastic, such as steel, ceramic, or glass. That would open a whole new range of possibilities to adults including practical applications.
Look, I made a miniature working Bessemer converter!
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Lego is the original "Rip, Remix and Burn" passtime and I'm glad to see that they're sticking to their heritage. Three cheers for lego! Can you imagine the MPAA packaging ripping, video editing and burning tools with all that extra space on the DVDs?
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
With the patents of basic Lego (and even 1985 flat pieces, technic and space lego) having expired I hope more Chinese toy makers will make all plastic toys Lego compatible.
Would it not be great if kids who prefer playing with toy soldiers over building with Lego would still use their old lego to build bridges to blow up as the hole on the toy soldiers feet would be compatible with lego. If the interconnects between rockets, rocket-launcer, vehicle and hide-out could be hooked up to any of the other plastic toys?
Why not just go Open Source?
Sigs are for the weak.
(Not that I wouldn't mind seeing a little competition keep prices lower on real Legos!)
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The Brick Testament is the Bible enacted all out of Legos, and if religion isn't your thing there's always Lego Porn.