The title of this post at dagolden.com really struck me. The post, about a new CPAN client that doesn’t mimic the “swiss army chainsaw” mentality of the Perl community’s approach to software design, is apt in its critique not only of the project itself, but of its reception by the community. There is a religious type zeal some people express when shifting their allegiance from one idea to another that seems to compel them to attack the subject of their former allegiance.
Google and the End of Science: Bringing it all back Hume By Anton Wylie
is a (surprisingly) well written romp across the philisophical grounds for this:
The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete By Chris Anderson
Not what I was expecting from a Reg article, honestly, but fun. If anyone is interested in discussing either do drop me a line.
People labor hard to gain contentment
Though success is very far from sure;
But how can they be happy if they do not labor,
Those whose joy is in the work itself?
And since I never have enough of pleasure,
Honey on the razor’s edge,
How could I have enough of merit,
Fruits of which are happiness and peace?
The elephant, tormented by the noonday sun,
Will dive into the waters of a lake,
And likewise I must plunge into this work
That I might bring it to completion.
If impaired by weakness or fatigue,
I’ll lay it aside, the better to resume.
And I will leave tasks comleted,
Anticipating thus the work to come.
…
The lichen hanging in the trees watfs to and fro
Stirred by every breath of the wind;
Likewise, all I do will be acheived,
Enlivened by the movements of a joyful heart.
Bodhicharyavatara of Shantideva, pt IIV, 64-67 & 75; as translated by the Padmakara Translation Group
I stole some time in the last day to dip into two series I’ve meant to pick up for a while.
Animal Man : “Deus Ex Machine” The run of revived Animal Man written by Grant Morrison. I’ve enjoyed a lot of art whose artists decided to cast it as a “comic”; this is a comic in the most obvious, underwear pervert sense of the word, and it excels as a piece of art worthy of critical acclaim. Thankfully, sitting in bed and reading the first several pages out loud as my daughter fell asleep, I was not asked what a peyote ritual was.
Elf Quest: “The Grand Quest”
Somehow I haven’t gotten my hands on this until just now. It’s… Elf Quest.?! I grabbed a manga sized copy because it said “#1″ and I was in the same physical location, something that hadn’t yet occured. Now I’ll probably end up trolling through the Online Archive they’re releasing, trying to catch up with 32 years of comics. At least I won’t need to wait for the next one 
Oh, and I also just started reading “Dresden Codak”, and it is wonderful. Very well illustrated and exactly on the mark to tickle my fancy… philosophy, psychology, physics, undead, robots, adventure, humor… it reminds me of good conversations I’ve had that turned into shared mini-stories. I think I may now recover from my sense of loss at the end of the “Perry Bible Fellowship”.
The creators of Solar Empire and Galactic Civilization II are touting on the IGN blog that the lack of DRM on their games’ installation media as prime examples of how DRM is unnecessary in the digital media market. They’re right too, and have proven it with millions of dollars in sales. However, I don’t believe even they understand why.
The author of that entry portrays the game is a loss leader for sales of the download updates and extra content. It is, by concession, freeware. The incentive to purchase a copy supposedly comes from the desire for a “unique serial #” that will allow updates and extra content.
“With Galactic Civilizations II, we put no copy protection on the CD. But to get updates, users had to use their unique serial # in the box. That’s because our system is backed by TotalGaming.net’s unique SSD service (secure software delivery) which forgoes DRM and copy protection as we know it to take a more common sense (I think so anyway as a gamer) approach of just making sure you are delivering your game to the actual customer.
Any system out there will get cracked and distributed. But if you provide reasonable after-release support in the form of free updates that add new content and features that are painless for customers to get, you create a real incentive to be a customer.”
Err, not exactly.
The game, as they concede, will be made freely available by crackers whatever they do. Attempting to secure it is a waste of time and money, and a hassle for the legit user. But the same must then be said of any material not available initially as well. Attempting to sell something that’s freely available is chicanery, even if you are the producer. We’ve moved beyond believing in the entanglement of possessing media and the legal “right” to use it; it is great that the producers acknowledge the inability to glue these concepts together… but then why do they proceed to try to anyway?
The illusion that people paying them for this product are purchasing the game, is wholly illusory. Their customers are simply buying licenses to play the game legally, and the convenience of on-demand delivery (digital download or game-in-hand from a store, plus extra downloads later) is just an incentive. Digital Media Rule #1: All there is to sell is convenience and conscience. Here’s the pickle: the updates and extras can ALSO be distributed without inhibition once it is downloaded unless it relies on some form of DRM. Since they make a point of picking on DRM, I assume it doesn’t. They fold their argument into two halves by talking about “the CD” and “updates” I think they fail to see that the two are cut from the same cloth.
Why not divorce the content from the license completely? Clear the downloader’s conscience and give away (as in freedom) the game AND the updates. However, you can continue to sell instant downloads of the game and updates, for people who can’t or won’t go find a copy in the wild. You forgo the “license” since you’re beyond absolving the downloaders, you’re actually encouraging them. You make a game people want to support, and get them to love it. You also give them the chance to support it by funding it directly, taking what would have been a license payment and turning it into an investment. People hate to lose investments, even more than they desire to make gains. Let them buy in.