Some people like John Perry Barlow and maybe Esther Dyson believe that Inform Ation [Wants To Be Free]. This doesn't mean "[IP] (Intellectual Property) protection is bad", it means "[IP] protection is a losing game as info becomes digital, so look for another source of cash flow".

If this is "true", then what is left for Business Models For Information?

see also: Invisible Content, Economics Of Abundance

(Hmmm, as money becomes increasingly abstract/informational, does that mean that Money Wants To Be Free?)

• no, it means information in the digital realm is within the model of abundance, as opposed to material goods within the model of scarcity, which capitalism is based. on. information is "set free" when it is digitized. once there, there's no going back. (http://fusionanomaly.net/informationwantstobefree.html)

• but as we get more and more efficient at [Doing More With Less], and more and more of the New Economy value creation comes from bits instead of atoms, what does that imply for Money? (And nation-state monopolization thereof...) (By the way, this is just a random [Brain Fart]...) --Bill Seitz

free information? [WHERE]????? [TAKE] [ME] [WITH] [YOU]!!!!!!!!!!!!! --2003/07/23 00:46 [GMT]
Gee, glad to hear it! Um, when does it begin?

See, information [COSTS] A [LOT] [OF] [SWEAT] [AND] [MONEY] [TO] [DISCOVER], [REFINE], and [ORGANIZE]. It took [LOADS] of money to devlop a primitive vaccum tube into a advanced BEAM [POWER] [TUBE], which is a [FAR] cry from the primitive thing that Dr Lee [De Forest] [TRIPPED] [OVER] when he was experimenting with [FLEMING] [VALVE] variants.

All that research resulted in lots of new facts, but it cost lots of [CASH]. [OK], someone (several someones) spent the bread, did the experiments, measured things, thought about it, compared notes (sometimes) and came up with [TETRODES]. They studied these, noticed limitations, and came up with [PENTODES]. They studied what went on in them, and refined it with BEAM or [POWER] pentodes. Studying these, they came up with [THE] BEAM [POWER] [TUBE].

That 6V6G or ^6L6GT or 6146RGB were the result of a [LOT] of work, and a [HUGE] stash of cash.

[OK]. Now, we have to ask, why?

Partly because assorted people, states, some corperations, and even the national governement offered grants to advance pure science research.

And some of it was because [FIRMS] wanted to devlope a new better product.

When the first beam power tube was offered, it was easier to make, and therefore less expensive, and gave [GREAT] results. The firm recovered it's costs partly by offering licenses to other tube manufacturers, who also made the thing. It also had a head start on making the tube, and established it's presence in the market as a maker of fine electronic devices.

This was not free information by any extent. It cost a [HEAP].

[OK]. So, inventing firm creates first such tube. Patents it to protect the invention. Anyone can make one. Yes, the patent prohibits [SELLING] such a tube, not [MAKING] it. You can [MAKE] one to study all you want. Make a thousand if you like. You just can't [SELL] any- commercial exploitation was prohibited. [BUT], you could aquire a [LICENSE] to do this. It cost money is all. [ANYONE] could (for a modest copying fee) obtain a copy of the patent for the thing. But although the information was free (acknowledging the copying cost existed, and postage to get it from the US Patent office to you), in reality it cost bucks to use it commercially. Because the infenting form had [PATENT] [RIGHTS] on the invention.

That's just one example, in the realm of inventions.

Where the internet is coming into real conflict is not so much on inventions, but on [COPYRIGHTS].

When you create an artistic work, a text of instruction, a how to manual, you (usually) want to be rewarded for it. by copyrighting a work, you have rights- rights to demand reward for your labor.

You do [NOT] have to offer access to your manual on rebuilding classic [VW]'s. You can set the terms to whatever the laws allow. IT [IS] [YOUR] [PROPERTY]. You own the original- not just the paper and inkspots, but the [CONCEPTUAL] [STRUCURE] [THEY] [CONVEY]. You own the right to declare under what condition someone else may posess a [COPY]- that is, you own the [COPYRIGHTS].

You can [GIVE] [THEM] [AWAY]. You can [RENT] them. You can [SELL] them.

Frankly, the lure of [GREED], a vice, has led many firms into the error of demanding [FAR] too much money for something that is duplicated [VERY] easily. And [GREED] should [NEVER] be rewarded, because greed is a [VICE]; it is an expression of [AT] [LEAST] unethical conduct, and [AT] [WORST] is [EVIL]. (How this applies to certain firms vending software products and operating systems I dare not write publically...)

[Trade Secret]-s --2003/07/23 00:57 [GMT]
Coca Cola syrup, prime example.

Never registered, patented, copyrighted. 12 people on earth, [TOPS], know the complete formula. A dark mystery.

Coke will not tell [ANYONE]. There was once a grand law case, where several [BARRELS] [OF] [COKE] [SYRUP] were sued. Yep, you read that right, the very barrels were the defendant. Coke-Cola appeared not as defendant, and did not care to say a word. The content was being demanded. Coke refused to say. [BIG] case, many years ago. Trade secret, they insisted. Went up and up the judiciary all the way to the supreme court, appeal after appeal, since there was something of a comtempt of court charge resulting by their refusal.

Guess what? They have a right to their secrets. They do not [HAVE] to reveal any information. They [DO] have to refrain from using substances not fit for human consumption; they stipulate that all components for the syrup are fit for such use. [THAT] [IS] [ALL] they say.

You don't have to buy coke, and they don't have to tell you their formula or method of preperation. It's a trade secret.

money --2003/07/23 01:04 [GMT]
and besides, MonEy is fictious anyway.

[ARG]?!? (orcish for Oy!)

Look; Paper is real. Ink is real. Silver is real. Gold is real. Peices of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them are real. [MONEY] is a game we play, a beleif system we all seem to subscribe to, a [FAITH]. Mammon is indeed the god of this world, and it is the one true universal faith system.

That which has (damn near) no value has become the arbiter of all values.

Chew on [THAT] one a spell...

User Options Recent Changes Help Page