Oliver Drobnik

We have surpassed the 500 signatures mark for the Star Trek: On Demand petition.

For some time we have been eagerly looking upon how the fate of the online music swapping frenzy is developing. Attempts are being made to convert the massive piracy into yet another cash cow for the music corporations. The same is basically happening for video and e-books, though that’s beneath the noise level that Napster is causing, so many people don’t notice it.

While Napster has gone for tea with the enemy, others seemingly have joined the crusade for free online music that Napster is rumored to have abandoned. Think FreeNet, Gnutella, and not to mention the alt.binaries newsgroups. To cut a long story short, you can get music if you want. You can also get video and e-books for free as well. There is not a single thing the industry can do to prevent this regardless of how hard they try. This is what makes law-abiding citizens around the globe nervous — not! It is cause for great concern amongst the ranks of people who need to make money off the music (and other content). I am using the term music here because it’s what people are aware of, but what I am saying holds true for all forms of digital media.

Until now, the most effective approaches we’ve seen are the subscription models. In the case of Napster, there’s a seemingly unlimited range of music available for such a subscription, in contrast to more limited portfolios from some of the newer competing services (some of which have backing from very big players). They will get their subscription fees. Napster will stay a viable source of income for Bertelsmann even if most of its subscribers switch to other free music sources. Web sites that offer media in a digital-rights-protected format will probably not suffer from the consequences of free media as much. I am centering this article on the millions of files that are not protected. You cannot undo the invention of the now famous MP3 format.

There will always people who will get something for free if they can get it.

Free media is only a symptom. It is not one of technology but of technology outgrowing current licensing and royalty schemes. You can try as hard as you want, but you will not make the technology fit these schemes in a satisfactory way. If you protect, somebody will unprotect. If you just license, somebody will pirate. The problem is tackled the wrong way, all the large corporations are centering on technology, only to spare them having to think and adapt their ways of licensing. They prefer to talk to the big people to get consumers’ money, not to the consumers. Big mistake!

As of now it is incredibly difficult to put together a legal CD. Or to put Star Trek videos legally onto your Web site. You just cannot get the licenses for content if you are not a corporation yourself. With the Internet everyone is a publisher, but not everyone can acquire the licenses to be able to publish legally. The problem is that the corporations still think, “first you buy the license, then I’ll give you the stuff.” It’s based upon the notion that the license is the key to getting a physical media — you paid in the store and then took the CD home.

Today the situation is reversed: I can get the content if I want. I am not limited to getting it in a store, but I cannot get a license because music companies refuse to talk to me and it’s simply too painful. Corporations hope that being unable to buy licenses will deter me. Wrong! If I can get the content I want (because it’s there) most other people can and will, too. And the word of how and where gets spread even more quickly than you can read this article.

People have been collectors ever since the Stone Age. I know a limitless number of people all around the world that just keep collecting: MP3s, TV series episodes, e-books, etc. We are all collectors. Who doesn’t have a directory on his or her hard disk where he/she puts all the pictures/sounds/videos that make their rounds in office e-mail?

I believe I have proven that everyone can get what he or she wants and keep it. So this instantly proves non-feasible any approach relying entirely on technology. The only way to get out of this mess is what I am hoping to propose right now.

I (the consumer, one of the millions of mini-publishers out on the Net) want to purchase licenses to legalize content I own if I desire to do so. Why isn’t there a Web site (a central license repository) where I can register a CD I have burned, where I can list the tracks I have put on my CD and pay the royalties with my credit card? I would be able to choose if the CD is just for myself or for somebody else, and this will adjust the rates. This could even be incorporated into Windows Media Player or Nero, for example, to optionally and automatically purchase a license for the stuff I am burning if I choose to. The same would work for any kind of content and media. People with massive MP3 libraries would be able to painlessly legalize their possessions. There could be a tool that allows me to create a content list by scanning my hard disk, download royalty rates, select the files to legalize, and again pay securely for the chosen items. In turn I would get an online certificate that I can show if the legality of my content is in doubt.

Yes, I am aware that with this approach it will still be easy for cheaters to cheat. But I will make it even easier to de-criminalize the individuals who want to pay their dues, but lack a possible way to do so because the current licensing schemes are sorely outdated. Once corporations understand that they have lost control over content distribution (and have no hope of regaining it), they will have to accept that they can no longer get their fees for the physical media, but for the content from the consumers, not from the logistics.

It’s a win-win situation for corporations as well. They can stop investing in futile maneuvers trying to stop the unstoppable and instead gain millions of legal distributors of their content. They will gain invaluable information on what kind of content sells and what does not, so they can fine-tune their offerings to make even more money. They will earn money from the licenses being bought. Isn’t this what they want?

Oliver Drobnik is a 26-year system administrator and developer at an Austrian cellular network provider.

Due to an unfortunate oversight we lost about 180 signatures of the Star Trek: On Demand Petition. Please sign again!!

**** ZDNet News reader Oliver Drobnik believes Microsoft will go open source, but not for at least another 3-4 years. Read Oliver’s opinion below. ****

Much has been said and heard about the ins and outs of making Windows open source. There are a few factors that make it quite clear why Microsoft will be stepping on the breaks to delay such an opening for at least 3-4 years.

Microsoft’s current most prevalent problem is the fragmentation of its operating systems. With two different main code bases (also two different main driver APIs) it is unthinkable to have one big open source OS. But wouldn’t an open source Windows be what the industry needs? Yes, nice idea Johnny, sit down.

The main reason and the main driving factors behind Microsoft’s current strategy are these:
* See how the lawsuit turns out
* Unify the OS tree. Whistler to the rescue!
* Leverage on current investments and latest technology (see research.microsoft.com) advances to…
* …make money from the core OS as long as possible.
* Make the Windows promise to developers and system admins the most compelling possible.
* Make Windows the best platform for ALL systems.

Has anyone noticed the kind of improvements seen in Win2K and SQL Server 2000 that illustrate the last point? Man, Windows and SQL learned to SCALE!!! This new duo can cluster and perform like nothing before! This is what those who bet on Windows wanted and at a relatively low cost. (Buzzword: Total Cost of Ownership)

Windows.NET Version 1 (formerly known as Whistler) and Office 10 (currently BETA) will show some important steps on the way to open source:
* It will have a subscription type variant where you would get the software more or less for free but would pay small monthly fees to get new patches and upgrades automatically.
* It will be a much more open platform due to the goals and requirements of the general .NET initiative. Microsoft’s SOAP, XML and biztalk will take over some core functionality.
* “Software as a service” is basically what the Linux distributors see themselves doing already. Now think that instead of buying a box you could get a constantly polished Windows automatically streamed to your PC. How does that sound in relation to having to buy new SUSE CDs every now and then or constantly download patches?
* Microsoft is trying to get a good base of application servers (ASPs) worldwide that would take care of the above-mentioned subscriptions.
* Win.NET will be one core system as a replacement for the current two branches.

Having said all of the above we still know that open source will be a viable path, but we all know Microsoft well enough that we can see them pursue such a way only if they have maneuvered themselves into the most favorable starting position.

Once Microsoft has become the main PROVIDER of Windows (which will be a “service” by then) then it will care much less about who puts what into the OS, because they will still be the ones to earn the money on the OS subscriptions. This will be the time when the open source movement will have conquered Windows … at a bitter cost: it will make Microsoft even richer.

As you can see: Microsoft’s future looks bright.

Oliver Drobnik is a 26-year system administrator and developer at an Austrian cellular network provider.

Almost forgotten “childhood memories” come back to consciousness: I found that my favorite Laserdisc games by Don Bluth are available for regular DVD-players retaining the original interactivity! “[Digital Leisure] acquires and remasters existing video-intensive titles that would benefit from the superior video and audio quality of DVD.” I ordered my copies of Dragon’s Lair, Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp and Space Ace right away at DVD Direct UK. I am excited!

Also a great site to refresh those Laserdisc game memories is the Dragon’s Lair Project site that describes itself as “the one source for all laser disc games. I did remember loving Super Don Quixote, but I had forgotten about Time Traveler and Mad Dog McCree.