qhartman 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: No Smiling On Your Drivers License. It Makes Our Software Sad

    qhartman ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2009 @ 05:27pm

    Oregon Too

    I would suspect that Oregon is doing something similar. When I got my license renewed a couple months ago, the woman operating the camera hassled me when I smiled because (and I quote) "the biometric thingy won't like it.". As a result, I look like a surly serial killer in my driver's license photo. Delightful.

  • On the post: NBC's Zucker Still Seems Like He's Feeling Around In The Dark

    qhartman ( profile ), 28 May, 2009 @ 03:05pm

    I think the whole "hit series" model needs to be examined. Really, it's not realistic or sustainable to expect even a significant percentage of shows to be able to draw an audience season after season. I think that if the majority of American TV switched to the British model where a show usually is a fixed number of episodes designed to tell a specific story, we all would be better off. It could be bigger than a mini-series, but still feel "complete". One of the worst things is when a good show gets canceled mid-story and the people who do like it are left with a bitter taste.

    If something does do really well, there's nothing stopping them from doing another season, or a sequel, or what have you. This model will do a lot prevent good shows from dying slow painful deaths (Alias comes to mind, first 2-3 seasons were brilliant, after that, not so much) by not having this implied open-endedness.

  • On the post: Film Studios Can 'Cannibalize' Their DVD Sales, Or Lose Them Completely

    qhartman ( profile ), 27 May, 2009 @ 10:39am

    I want fewer "things"

    For me, my decline in DVD purchases is something of a knock-on effect of my "green" lifestyle changes. I don't want more "stuff". Since I can access all the media I want via downloads / streaming / rental, the appeal of having to lug around a physical artifact that I will actually only use a handful of times is _not_ appealing.

    A perfect example of this is Dark Knight. I was crusing a Circuit City that was closing and they had copies for $10. I reflexively picked up a copy because it was a good deal, and I knew I wanted to "own" a copy. But as I approached the register, I looked at the box and it occurred to me that I didn't want to have to store and/or dispose of that container and disk at some point. So I put it back on the shelf, and added it to my Netflix queue when I got home instead...

  • On the post: Judge In Pirate Bay Case Appears To Have Ties To The Copyright Lobby

    qhartman ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2009 @ 09:10am

    Doomed

    This is a perfect example of "creating an image of impropriety". Even if it's true that he sidelined his bias and made an honest and even handed judgment, the whole thing has the appearance of a back room deal. So at this point, at least one of these things is true:

    -This judge is moron, and should no longer be a judge.
    -This judge is corrupt, and should no longer be a judge.

    Personally, I'd say both of them are true.

  • On the post: You Can't Wait For The Perfect Business Model

    qhartman ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2009 @ 11:00am

    Re: Amen, brother

    "It may not be the bazillion dollar payday (that never really existed for most producers anyway), or, it might be even better. We'll never know but for the experiments."

    That I think is the core of the grief that this revolution is causing. It's not that the industries "are being killed", but that the wealth that they generate is no longer going to be concentrated into the hands of just few people, and those people are fighting tooth and nail to hang on to their golden geese. Rather than a handful of folks getting astonishingly rich, we're going to have tens, or hundreds, making a good living doing something they love. That feels like progress to me. But what do I know, I don't make my money creating artificial scarcities so I can make disproportionately large profits off the work of others.

  • On the post: Copyright And Classical Music: The Exact Opposite Of The Intended Purpose

    qhartman ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2009 @ 10:50am

    Incentives

    This again undercuts the idea that payment is the sole, or even most powerful, incentive for effort. Based on this information I imagine Verdi's perspective on wealth to be somewhat similar to my own. I make enough money to live comfortably. As a result of that, the prospect of more money has become a relatively weak motivator for me. In fact, if I were offered a raise at work, I would likely counter-offer and try to get more time off instead so I would have more time to pursue my other interests. If Verdi didn't need to keep cranking out work to pay the bills, I'm sure there are other things he would rather spend his time on.

  • On the post: Why Couldn't Cisco And FSF Come To An Agreement?

    qhartman ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2008 @ 08:46am

    This is why....

    I don't actively support the FSF, even though they support things I believe in. They just go too far. They seem like they feel like it's more important to keep grinding their axes than it is to give OSS and FS real credibility by being an example of a respectable and rational member of the tech community. It seems like everything they do ends up with them acting like a petulant child at some point. As much as I'd love to, I just can't put my support behind a group that does that sort of thing, I think it ultimately does more harm than good.

  • On the post: New Report Says Mass Media Is Really, Really Evil For Kids

    qhartman ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2008 @ 12:11pm

    Can it be indirectly causal?

    I don't think that there's really anything wrong with mass media in and of itself. I also don't think it does much harm to kids who consume it. I think the harm comes in the fact that in consuming mass media, the kids aren't doing _something else_ that would be of benefit. Rather than reading and strengthening their imagination, they passively view images created for them. Rather than running around and climbing trees, they watch shows about other kids building a treehouse. Rather than tinkering with something, they watch a show that explains how something works. I could go on, but the bottom line, to me, is not that consumption mass media is itself harmful, but that it replaces activities which are beneficial. The net result of that is kids are slower, fatter, and less well adjusted socially.

  • On the post: Video Game Execs Freak Out Over Used Game Sales

    qhartman ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2008 @ 12:36pm

    Dichotomy

    Finally, from a common sense standpoint: you sold the game, you no longer have control over what people do with it. That's how transactions work. Would the folks at Bungie like it if we suddenly started telling them how they could spend the money we gave them for games? No? Then they shouldn't complain about what people do with their games.

    That comment points to the core friction that I believe is the root of a lot of this. The publishers have come to see their products as the "IP" in the game, the bits, which are licensed, not sold. Everyone else in the world sees their product as the tangible object which those bits are delivered on. Hence the disconnect between the two sides of this debate. Until publishers let go of the idea that what they are selling is a license and not a tangible good, or they start delivering things intangibly ( like Steam, or the various other download-only delivery methods) the two sides of this will never see eye to eye, and even then it's doubtful.

    Of course if that happens on a large scale, then the prices of games will have to come down dramatically, otherwise the audiences will be so small they will be wishing for the "good old days".

    I also don't see why they are complaining about game shops making residual money on used games. I mean, these shops are their primary bridge to their customers. Those shops make tiny margins on the new kit, and if it weren't for the money made on used, I'd wager most of them would fold. With fewer shops, there are fewer places for these publishers to get their work out...

  • On the post: Understanding The Difference Between Price And Value; Product And Benefit

    qhartman ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2008 @ 05:39am

    Far too few people realize this

    I've heard this phenomenon described using drill bits. People who buy a 3/8" drill bit, don't want a drill bit. They want a 3/8" hole...

    I think it's easy for one to lose sight of what value they actually provide as their products get more and more complex and ephemeral, I think that's why technology and media are having such hard times lately.

  • On the post: Yes, Marketing Matters To Innovation Too

    qhartman ( profile ), 13 Aug, 2008 @ 10:28am

    I think you and the original author are mixing apples and oranges here. Linspire could be argued to be a marketing failure. I personally think it was an execution failure more than a marketing failure; their marketing always seemed pretty good to me (given their presumed budgetary restraints), both from the perspective identifying needs and informing consumers.

    Chandler on the other hand simply failed to deliver on a technical level. No amount of marketing will save a project if it doesn't even come close to doing what it claims to. Are you pointing to the disconnect between their claims and their abilities as the marketing failure? If so, that makes sense, but that connection is not strongly made. I still doubt that the project failed because of that though. It seems that they were relying on the OSS fairy tale of "announce it and they will come" wherein all you need is a good idea, and suddenly competent developers are banging down your door to help make it real. That just doesn't happen. You have to earn that sort of commitment, and big talk with little to back it up won't do that.

  • On the post: Will Nicholas Negroponte Ever Understand That Competition Isn't About Killing OLPC?

    qhartman ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2008 @ 12:23pm

    Re: priorities

    I tend to agree with you, but the idea behind the OLPC and similar projects is to "attack the root of the problem", and by their definition the root of the problem is lack of education. The assumption being that, once better educated, these people will work to improve their situations on their own. I think there are some fundamental flaws in this argument, but hey, what do I know?

  • On the post: Will Nicholas Negroponte Ever Understand That Competition Isn't About Killing OLPC?

    qhartman ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2008 @ 12:05pm

    Re: Re: Subsidized laptop for developing Countries

    If one company's product depends on subsidies (from where??), then that likely would take them out as a candidate for purchase by a government.

    They would theoretically be getting subsidized by MS or Intel. MS particularly has a long history of subsidizing PCs sold with Windows on them. That's part of what makes it possible for big manufacturers to sell PCs so inexpensively and still turn a profit. This is particularly true in the low-spec space that the OLPC would occupy. Just try to build a machine using OTS retail (or even OEM) parts and software. If you do a truly apples to apples build, your cost will be higher than buying that machine from a Dell or HP or similar reseller.

    This would be unlikely to have an impact on the suitability for a gov't purchase, there's no reason for it to, it's a common practice in the industry. The reason that OLPC had in interest in avoiding it is because it's dishonest; it's causes a difference between the actual and perceived cost of the machine. If I recall correctly, one of the long-term hopes of the OLPC program was to enable other groups to manufacture them, but if they couldn't do it for the same cost as the original because of the subsidies, this would be rather duplicitous.

  • On the post: Will Nicholas Negroponte Ever Understand That Competition Isn't About Killing OLPC?

    qhartman ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2008 @ 11:30am

    Not Apples and Apples on either side

    Granted, the Times article was pretty one-sided and Negroponte comes off as an arrogant ass, but your take on it is pretty off too. On one side you have a non-profit organization that has been working on this for years, on the other you have two of the largest IT corps in the world, both who have a vested interest in seeing the OLPC fail, or at least substantially change how it's built.

    If the OLPC as it was originally envisioned is broadly successful, that would represent a major loss of mindshare for both MS and Intel in those developing markets.

    Further, how is the Intel or MS approach any less top-down? In the articles I've read, the supposed "needs" that are not being met are being defined largely by governmental bureaucrats, not the citizens and teachers who would actually be using the devices. Additionally, I've read some articles that made the claim that those same officials received some nice contributions from MS just before these needs got defined.

    All these accusations of attempting to kill the project or bribe officials aside, true or not, the situation creates the appearance of corporate interests having an undue influence on the technological development of developing nations, and people in positions of power making decisions for the wrong reasons. The whole situation smacks of corruption, even if it really is "fair" competition between an NPO and multi-billion dollar corps. Companies that were perfectly happy to ignore these markets until the OLPC started gaining traction.

  • On the post: Harvard Bookstore Claims Book Prices Are Copyrighted

    qhartman ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2007 @ 10:01pm

    Re: Not quite

    While your statement is technically true, someone with the creativity and desire could come up with a number of plausible justifications if needed.

    But more to the point, stores don't need a reason. They are private property, and the owners / authorized agents of the owner can decide at any time that someone needs to leave, for no reason at all. That is why you will often see signs posted in stores stating that "This establishment reserves the right to refuse service to anyone". Those signs aren't really necessary legally, but they make court visits go more quickly. Sure it's bad for business, but it's not illegal by any means. As long as you are smart enough to not specify your reasoning, there's nothing that the other person can do, other than drain resources by forcing one to fight unprovable claims in court.

    Furthermore, I don't know of any federal anti-discrimination law that applies to commerce. As far I know, those only (and originally) apply to employment, and then were extended to education somewhat. A quick google just now also did not turn up anything to support the idea that refusing to do business with someone because of their race is illegal...