It has been years since I've seen a large amount of ads, than when I first used Chrome, I almost didn't recognize the sites I go to, since most of them were formatted slightly differently and had loads of flashing things.
AdBlock plus is essential for me to function on the internet.
I tried using it without it, but my tolerance for ignoring flashing things and adverts has decreased so far, that I'm never going back.
Once Chrome has this, I can certainly see myself using that all the time. For now, I use Chrome as my "secure" browser... basically a browser which only goes to trusted sites without heaps of advertising, gmail, gcal, online bank, etc.
If I can take it, without depriving someone else of it, but I can't afford it, I'm gonna take it.
If you set too high a price point, you won't sell it. If your business model doesn't work, use another. It's not rocket science. It's economics.
Think of it this way, is it easier to convince people to pay for your work, when the utility they gain from it will be less than that gained from something else at the same price point. Or is it easier to think smarter, and modernize your business model?
If you're not smart enough to think about and realize this, then I'm not willing to ludicrously reduce my liberty, to compensate for your inadequacies.
You think that's bad? A pile of my friends worked for Alienware, specifically he was in customer support which included handling disgruntled customers, taking orders, and trying to find solutions to problems.
He was told "stop putting orders through so quickly" because the contract allows us to charge them and make it later. Sure it takes 6 months for the customer to receive their laptop, but don't worry, people who buy Alienware convince themselves that it's a better product, and worth the wait.
He was told "all of those machines being delivered with problems, tell them it's a problem with the software" because a lot of the laptops were being delivered faulty.
That's just 2 really bad stories.
Although this friend obviously quit and in spectacular fashion, I've several other friends who still work there, and inform me that it's business as usual.
I would never purchase anything from Alienware ever! I don't care if they are selling tissues, they'll find a way to fuck it up!
Okay, I concede I was a little off point and aggressive with that statement. When I read it, I thought it implied that something should be done about it, or that file sharing was detrimental to them. Which he doesn't really say.
It's just that the way it is phrased implies that it's bad, yet I've seen it be extremely useful for the bands I've worked with (Small Australian bands), who have managed to connect with their audience.
Additionally, illegal file sharing has been attributed to the rise of a popular Australian band, though it was only their beginning, and their greatest period of growth was when they were picked up by a larger marketing organisation.
Yes the power of the market is still safely held by the large organizations, this is because they throw millions of dollars into marketing.
However with lower distribution costs (through file sharing) and with a good product, a band can start with file sharing.
TPB's data doesn't show that it's false at all, it shows that large organizations which spend millions of dollars on marketing are more successful. Which seems obvious. If you want to see real "social mobility" amongst those groups, you need a company to aggregate a lot of data on small bands which both did and did not undertake these various strategies to attempt to find some correlation. Though it would be somewhat weak.
I doubt many people use P2P illegal copying to FIND new artists but I bet a lot use P2P illegal copying to gain access to new artists which they wouldn't have other wise. If that new artist is able to connect with them in some other way (through last.fm/myspace/facebook/etc) then provide them the ability to download through a cheap distribution network, then they will benefit from P2P illegal copying.
The fact that mainstream artists are using P2P well, is due to the fact that they have invested a fuck load in connecting with their audiences already. The key to success is finding a way to do this cheaper. Then it will benefit you.
So he's saying that because the costs of entering the market are now so low, he can't compete. Wow. Would you rather we artificially inflate the costs so you still couldn't compete?
The internet lowers these costs, this enables you to make something of yourself, if you are able to connect with your market. In this case, it seems you failed to connect with your market, perhaps you don't move in those circles? Perhaps you didn't do anything they are interested in?
If you want to be successful especially in the music industry you need to build this base, either through a fuck load of touring, or doing something really outstandingly different, or similar.
Find a way to connect, then find a way to value add.
I've talked about this topic quite a lot and it comes down to strategy. It's bad to degrade the quality of your product with DRM, but it's equally bad to degrade the quality of your service by making it completely open.
The solution?
Implement an account login for servers run by the company, or certified companies associated with them. This way you're giving away the game, at LANs it can be plaid for free, give away the server client as well, so if you want to play it somewhere else for free you can. But have a quality service (perhaps a monthly fee?) for use on the servers, then track stats, etc.
Differentiate between paid for clients and un-paid clients.
Your goal is to provide a valuable product, connect with your audience, and value add to the product for money.
That's the name of the game and it's simple.
It's the Linux model, hell even Microsoft uses this model (to some extent).
This was bad strategy on their behalf, since this is somewhat easy thought.
In other news, I'm a business strategist if this company or any other gaming company wants someone to analyze strategies and develop ideas like this, get in contact with me.:-)
Seriously, this is a useless measurement, it's way over things I know about. I need it in something practical, like how many libraries of congress is it?
Yeah, I find it improves my speed heaps. I don't have to load the flash adverts and similar. I also don't load the random tracking javascript which takes ages to load.
It makes the web a lot better, and I only use AdBlock and NoScript.
Without them browsing webpages becomes far too painful for me.
Since I've been using AdBlock when ever I have to use a website in another browser, I find it almost impossible to read webpages efficiently.
I get so distracted by the flashing things, and weird formatting.
AdBlock has reduced my "bullshit advert ignoring skills" and I am so much happier for it.
This alone makes it almost impossible to switch to any other broswer, I even tried Opera's solution, but that broke a lot of pages, and slowed Opera to a crawl.
A lot of us have already said, we'll split the costs of hiring a decent server with VPN/SSH so we can completely bypass it. It would just take a little bit more money.
Good point. Although I'm sure a lot of people in the NRA, specifically the ones who push these issues, would not have understood the issue properly and might not have been as effective in arguing their point.
Also, since they stand for guns, they would have looked at encryption being classified as a munition and thought, "well that's not a gun, so we don't care".
Perhaps the NRA should expand their focus to civil liberties more, as they have huge support, and this could also work in their favour by providing a less "gun crazed" picture of themselves.
Also, every army around the world emphasises their infantry, even with modern technology it's a political nightmare to just bomb a country willy nilly. Especially when you're uncertain if that country is actually attacking you. People with guns are huge deterrents.
However in response to "There haven't been many terror attacks with guns" has he really forgotten about the 2008 mumbai terrorist attacks, or all of the "insurgent" attacks, and similar?
Guns are essential, necessary, and a damn sight more useful than "kill fucking everyone in a huge radius" bombs.
Often it's hard to "find another office" and businesses aren't in the habit of paying for a keeping around spare offices. (The only contract I've worked on where there were spare offices were government ones)
Additionally, if you're in an office, you might not be a part of the team as much, there might be less communication, etc.
I did a lot of fly in fly out work a while ago, I always made the company pay for a better room and better flight. Else they'd send me in there in the morning, give me the cheapest accommodation around, then send me home late that night.
Travelling always sucked for me, yet other people I'd talk to would be telling me how awesome it was. Until I talked to my Uncle who's been doing it for ages, and he said "Yeah, it sucks, everyone just tries to pretend it doesn't".
I had people asking me "So, did you go to any fancy restaurants?", while I did sometimes most of the time I was fucked and just got room service after pulling a 14 hour day.
However, some other consulting gig's I've looked at for the company, while still very businessey, it's a longer term assignment (3 months to a year or even more), and I've heard they are a lot more laid back. They get you your own apartment, there's little hurry, and you work more regular hours, etc.
This sounds like good travel to me, though it will fuck with your private life a fair amount.
Hey, our Government censors t-shirts. (A teenager was arrested for wearing a "Jesus is a cunt" t-shirt)
I work with a fair few American's, and I've asked them about this, some of them are really Christian, and even the Texas guy and the New Jersey guy (both are really religious), said it was ridiculous that he was arrested and that he should sue the Government. Though, both of them did say, I could see him getting his ass handed to him.
Australia may have been better regulatory, however the 80s was a nightmare here, since late 70s and early 80s politicians went crazy regulating our country, and set our country back heaps. Though, I believe it was more liberal with regards to immigration.
Slashdot Mirror
That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
No AdBlock?
How do you manage to function without AdBlock?
It has been years since I've seen a large amount of ads, than when I first used Chrome, I almost didn't recognize the sites I go to, since most of them were formatted slightly differently and had loads of flashing things.
AdBlock plus is essential for me to function on the internet.
I tried using it without it, but my tolerance for ignoring flashing things and adverts has decreased so far, that I'm never going back.
Once Chrome has this, I can certainly see myself using that all the time. For now, I use Chrome as my "secure" browser... basically a browser which only goes to trusted sites without heaps of advertising, gmail, gcal, online bank, etc.
If I can take it, without depriving someone else of it, but I can't afford it, I'm gonna take it.
If you set too high a price point, you won't sell it. If your business model doesn't work, use another. It's not rocket science. It's economics.
Think of it this way, is it easier to convince people to pay for your work, when the utility they gain from it will be less than that gained from something else at the same price point. Or is it easier to think smarter, and modernize your business model?
If you're not smart enough to think about and realize this, then I'm not willing to ludicrously reduce my liberty, to compensate for your inadequacies.
The term is "Flame On".
Worst, troll, ever.
You think that's bad? A pile of my friends worked for Alienware, specifically he was in customer support which included handling disgruntled customers, taking orders, and trying to find solutions to problems.
He was told "stop putting orders through so quickly" because the contract allows us to charge them and make it later. Sure it takes 6 months for the customer to receive their laptop, but don't worry, people who buy Alienware convince themselves that it's a better product, and worth the wait.
He was told "all of those machines being delivered with problems, tell them it's a problem with the software" because a lot of the laptops were being delivered faulty.
That's just 2 really bad stories.
Although this friend obviously quit and in spectacular fashion, I've several other friends who still work there, and inform me that it's business as usual.
I would never purchase anything from Alienware ever! I don't care if they are selling tissues, they'll find a way to fuck it up!
Okay, I concede I was a little off point and aggressive with that statement. When I read it, I thought it implied that something should be done about it, or that file sharing was detrimental to them. Which he doesn't really say.
It's just that the way it is phrased implies that it's bad, yet I've seen it be extremely useful for the bands I've worked with (Small Australian bands), who have managed to connect with their audience.
Additionally, illegal file sharing has been attributed to the rise of a popular Australian band, though it was only their beginning, and their greatest period of growth was when they were picked up by a larger marketing organisation.
Yes the power of the market is still safely held by the large organizations, this is because they throw millions of dollars into marketing.
However with lower distribution costs (through file sharing) and with a good product, a band can start with file sharing.
TPB's data doesn't show that it's false at all, it shows that large organizations which spend millions of dollars on marketing are more successful. Which seems obvious. If you want to see real "social mobility" amongst those groups, you need a company to aggregate a lot of data on small bands which both did and did not undertake these various strategies to attempt to find some correlation. Though it would be somewhat weak.
I doubt many people use P2P illegal copying to FIND new artists but I bet a lot use P2P illegal copying to gain access to new artists which they wouldn't have other wise. If that new artist is able to connect with them in some other way (through last.fm/myspace/facebook/etc) then provide them the ability to download through a cheap distribution network, then they will benefit from P2P illegal copying.
The fact that mainstream artists are using P2P well, is due to the fact that they have invested a fuck load in connecting with their audiences already. The key to success is finding a way to do this cheaper. Then it will benefit you.
So he's saying that because the costs of entering the market are now so low, he can't compete. Wow. Would you rather we artificially inflate the costs so you still couldn't compete?
The internet lowers these costs, this enables you to make something of yourself, if you are able to connect with your market. In this case, it seems you failed to connect with your market, perhaps you don't move in those circles? Perhaps you didn't do anything they are interested in?
If you want to be successful especially in the music industry you need to build this base, either through a fuck load of touring, or doing something really outstandingly different, or similar.
Find a way to connect, then find a way to value add.
I've talked about this topic quite a lot and it comes down to strategy. It's bad to degrade the quality of your product with DRM, but it's equally bad to degrade the quality of your service by making it completely open.
The solution?
Implement an account login for servers run by the company, or certified companies associated with them. This way you're giving away the game, at LANs it can be plaid for free, give away the server client as well, so if you want to play it somewhere else for free you can. But have a quality service (perhaps a monthly fee?) for use on the servers, then track stats, etc.
Differentiate between paid for clients and un-paid clients.
Your goal is to provide a valuable product, connect with your audience, and value add to the product for money.
That's the name of the game and it's simple.
It's the Linux model, hell even Microsoft uses this model (to some extent).
This was bad strategy on their behalf, since this is somewhat easy thought.
In other news, I'm a business strategist if this company or any other gaming company wants someone to analyze strategies and develop ideas like this, get in contact with me. :-)
It seems you haven't heard of LARP.
Now what do you think, Mr. Smarty Pants!
Finally, a reason to read and respond on slashdot more.
Only posted this for the April Fools achievement. Hope I still get it.
If you want a manly netbook, there's only one thing you need to do...
Nail a steak to it! Steak is manly. Nails are manly. A steak nailed to a netbook is manly. It will show your manliness and your love of steak!
You also might want to change your background to something to do with UFC and make it inherently more dangerous to handle, like tape a knife to it.
Stick with these simple tips and you'll have the manliest netbook in no time!
Well go to your local library of congress, and just drop my name, and they'll help you set it up for a single load.
Seriously, this is a useless measurement, it's way over things I know about. I need it in something practical, like how many libraries of congress is it?
I've heard of Primus... and that's it.
Yeah, I find it improves my speed heaps. I don't have to load the flash adverts and similar. I also don't load the random tracking javascript which takes ages to load.
It makes the web a lot better, and I only use AdBlock and NoScript.
Without them browsing webpages becomes far too painful for me.
This is a good point.
Since I've been using AdBlock when ever I have to use a website in another browser, I find it almost impossible to read webpages efficiently.
I get so distracted by the flashing things, and weird formatting.
AdBlock has reduced my "bullshit advert ignoring skills" and I am so much happier for it.
This alone makes it almost impossible to switch to any other broswer, I even tried Opera's solution, but that broke a lot of pages, and slowed Opera to a crawl.
I'm an MBA you insensitive clod!
Seriously this is quite possibly the best idea ever, I can't wait to start watching movies, and being able to feel them.
I can't wait to watch: ... and similar.
Irreversible
Quills
The Hurt Locker
A Clockwork Orange
Will the jacket have a rape function built in?
A lot of us have already said, we'll split the costs of hiring a decent server with VPN/SSH so we can completely bypass it. It would just take a little bit more money.
I didn't see any mention of the terror attacks in Africa, which are primarily guns.
Also, bombs don't stop people who bomb, guns do.
Good point. Although I'm sure a lot of people in the NRA, specifically the ones who push these issues, would not have understood the issue properly and might not have been as effective in arguing their point.
Also, since they stand for guns, they would have looked at encryption being classified as a munition and thought, "well that's not a gun, so we don't care".
Perhaps the NRA should expand their focus to civil liberties more, as they have huge support, and this could also work in their favour by providing a less "gun crazed" picture of themselves.
You raised a good point.
Also, every army around the world emphasises their infantry, even with modern technology it's a political nightmare to just bomb a country willy nilly. Especially when you're uncertain if that country is actually attacking you. People with guns are huge deterrents.
However in response to "There haven't been many terror attacks with guns" has he really forgotten about the 2008 mumbai terrorist attacks, or all of the "insurgent" attacks, and similar?
Guns are essential, necessary, and a damn sight more useful than "kill fucking everyone in a huge radius" bombs.
Often it's hard to "find another office" and businesses aren't in the habit of paying for a keeping around spare offices. (The only contract I've worked on where there were spare offices were government ones)
Additionally, if you're in an office, you might not be a part of the team as much, there might be less communication, etc.
+100 Awesome post.
I did a lot of fly in fly out work a while ago, I always made the company pay for a better room and better flight. Else they'd send me in there in the morning, give me the cheapest accommodation around, then send me home late that night.
Travelling always sucked for me, yet other people I'd talk to would be telling me how awesome it was. Until I talked to my Uncle who's been doing it for ages, and he said "Yeah, it sucks, everyone just tries to pretend it doesn't".
I had people asking me "So, did you go to any fancy restaurants?", while I did sometimes most of the time I was fucked and just got room service after pulling a 14 hour day.
However, some other consulting gig's I've looked at for the company, while still very businessey, it's a longer term assignment (3 months to a year or even more), and I've heard they are a lot more laid back. They get you your own apartment, there's little hurry, and you work more regular hours, etc.
This sounds like good travel to me, though it will fuck with your private life a fair amount.
Hey, our Government censors t-shirts. (A teenager was arrested for wearing a "Jesus is a cunt" t-shirt)
I work with a fair few American's, and I've asked them about this, some of them are really Christian, and even the Texas guy and the New Jersey guy (both are really religious), said it was ridiculous that he was arrested and that he should sue the Government. Though, both of them did say, I could see him getting his ass handed to him.
Australia may have been better regulatory, however the 80s was a nightmare here, since late 70s and early 80s politicians went crazy regulating our country, and set our country back heaps. Though, I believe it was more liberal with regards to immigration.