Category: Debated

Arguments, appeals, or otherwise analytical.

Categories
Debated Puzzled Over

What A Business Plan

Got a bunch of posts in me today.

But firs, the NY Times, [via Jonathan Greene](http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2007/02/24/bittorrent-entertainment-network): [Software Exploited by Pirates Goes to Work for Hollywood](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/technology/25bit.html)

> Hollywood studios are going into business with one of their biggest tormentors: the peer-to-peer pioneer BitTorrent.

> On Monday, the company, whose technology unleashed a wave of illegal file-sharing on the Internet, plans to unveil the BitTorrent Entertainment Network on its Web site, BitTorrent.com. The digital media store will offer around 3,000 new and classic movies and thousands more television shows, as well as a thousand PC games and music videos each, all legally available for purchase.

> The BitTorrent store will work slightly differently than rival digital media offerings like the iTunes Store of Apple and the Xbox Live service of Microsoft. BitTorrent will commingle free downloads of users’ own video uploads with sales of professional fare. And while it will sell digital copies of shows like “24” and “Bones” for $1.99 an episode, it will only rent movies. Once the films are on the PC, they expire within 30 days of their purchase or 24 hours after the buyer begins to watch them.

> New releases like “Superman Returns” cost $3.99, while classics like “Reservoir Dogs” cost $2.99. The studio’s content plays in Microsoft’s Windows Media Player 11. It is secured by Microsoft’s antipiracy software, which blocks users from watching rented movies on more than one PC or sending them to others over the Internet.

I’m sorry, I’m not getting the point. There are no technological advantages to this over the existing online video stores – in fact, from first glance, the DRM seems more crippling than what Apple offers. Oh, and you’re providing your bandwidth back to help speed up the downloads. What a deal this is to your average consumer!

What’s really enraging about this is how the studios really don’t get it at all:

> “Somebody once said you have to embrace your enemy,” said Doug Lee, executive vice president of MGM’s new-media division. “We like the idea that they have millions of users worldwide. That is potentially fertile, legitimate ground for us.”

Just a second, need to take a deep breath.

Now:

* You’re not embracing your enemy. You’re embracing a tool of the enemy.
* “They” don’t have millions of users worldwide. The technology “they” made has millions of users worldwide. Undoubtedly this service will have to use a new, special BT client to manage the DRM. Where are your users now?
* Those million of users aren’t using BitTorrent because they’re wedded to the technology. They’re wedded to the content that’s available to them – and the speed it is available – through that method.
* The content you’re offering? It’s the same content as iTunes, as Amazon Unbox, as Walmart, as Netflix, as Gametap, as Xbox Video Marketplace. They can already buy it, and usually with better usage rights.
* They’re not pirating because the items aren’t available legally, it’s because your DRM is making interop impossible.
* And hey, people are still pirating things through HTTP, FTP, Hotline, and Usenet. (Shit, why don’t we have some Gopher piracy servers?) You want to try co-opting those? Nope, you want to co-opt another technology with brand recognition, just like you did with Napster. How’s that working out for you? Last I heard, eMusic was second behind iTunes.

The land is fertile, yes. And you’re going to come in and pour some goddamn DRM Brawndo over the land and ruin the crops. Idiocracy, indeed.

(Not like any of this really affects me – Windows Media Player 11 doesn’t run on a Mac. Who needs interop, anyhow?)

Categories
Debated Disliked

Pry My iPod From My Cold, Run-Over Hands

NYC blog-types are up in arms today over [Carl Kruger’s proposed “no-ipod-or-cellphone-while-walking” ban](http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2007/02/07/banning_ipod_ce.php).

> “While people are tuning into their iPods and cell phones, they’re tuning out the world around them… If you want to listen to your iPod, sit down and listen to it. You want to walk in the park, enjoy it. You want to jog around a jogging path, all the more power to you, but you should not be crossing streets and endangering yourself and the lives of others.”

It’s good to know that after a landmark election, particular in NY state, we are still giving government jobs to the batshit insane.

Before we get to the snark, here’s the simple, logical response I’ve been pitching in response all morning:

* If you’re crossing a street – with or without an iPod – in such a way that you are a danger to traffic and those around you, then you must not have the right of way.
* Logically, this means you are crossing against the light.
* This, of course, means that you are jaywalking, which is literally defined as “to cross or walk in the street or road unlawfully or without regard for approaching traffic.”
* We already have laws against jaywalking that are barely enforced.
* Why do we need another law?

Okay, on to the snark. Other distractions to ban around NYC:

* **Tourists that stop dead on the sidewalk of Times Square.** I’m constantly running into people taking pictures or gawking at neon signs. This is dangerous.
* **Stairs.** They are often slippery and/or wet, causing injury and possible death.
* **Rain.** Rain is distracting. Also, wet. Again, safety hazard!!!
* **Children.** Not only are they a distraction, they are a waste of taxpayer resources.
* **Cars.** Did you know the #1 cause of accidents on NYC’s roads are automobiles? It’s true! They must be banned immediately.
* **Light.** Our tourist friends have proven that any sort of shining object can lead to a disaster. Total darkness is much safer.
* **Evening.** On second though, plenty of bad things happen in the dark. Why, 74% of NYC crime occurs between the hours of 6PM and 6AM! Let’s get rid of 12 hours in the day.
* **Sound.** What’s more frightening than a car backfiring, a glass breaking, or a loud siren? Abolish noise, and we can focus on the task at hand – putting one foot in front of the other, repeatedly.
* **Knowledge.** You know the saying about curiosity killing the cat? ONE DEAD CAT IS TOO MANY PEOPLE.

I look forward to our non-existence going forward.

Categories
Debated Disliked Narrated

A Crisis of Blogging Faith

With the rest of the blog world [angry over the Flickr/Yahoo imbroglio this week](http://strange.corante.com/archives/2007/02/02/bad_flickr_no_donut_for_you.php), I’m going to focus my nerd intensity in a different direction.

I’ve been a loyal Movable Type user since 2002. (For the non-nerds, MovableType is the blog software that powers this site.) I burned cycles beta testing MT 3.0. I bought the unlimited personal license for MT 3.0, before the licensing terms went back to being free. I’ve done proof of concepts on MT at both of the companies I’ve been at since graduating from college.

While new blog software like [WordPress](http://www.wordpress.org/) and [Typo](http://trac.typosphere.org/) came onto the scene with a bang, MT didn’t continue to evolve. But I stayed put. I had faith in Six Apart.

While the energy at 6A was poured into their other products – TypePad, LiveJournal, and Vox – and MT continued to stagnate, I stayed put. I had faith in Six Apart.

When Movable Type got an enterprise version, I perked my eyebrows up. I asked about pricing for work – we’re always curious about expanding into new services. But the pricing, even for education, was absurd. So I stayed put. I had faith in Six Apart.

When the “Movable Type News” page became “[Blogs @ Work](http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/news/index)” and began focusing on all of the case studies and hosting partners that 6A has lined up – and thus, barely meeting the definition of “news about the software” – I stayed put. I still had faith in Six Apart. They were expanding their markets, it made sense…in a way.

When the ProNet mailing list started having monthly conference calls – again, *a mailing list about blog software is having conference calls* – I stayed put. I had faith in Six Apart, that they would shake this absurdity. Isn’t the point of having a mailing list so you can communicate? Isn’t the point of having blog software so you can communicate?

As I had more and more emergency requests for consulting from my friends who use MovableType to power their businesses – things like “why aren’t comments scaling” and “why is my server dying under the load” – I could only shrug. These were the reasons I had to stop non-authenticated comments and trackbacks on this blog. Still, I stayed put. I had faith that so long as I decided not to make any sudden changes in the functionality of my blog, MT would continue to do. It’s not like I’m driving tons of traffic.

I’ve continued to have faith for over four years. For me, to stick with the same piece of software for four years is unusual. Web browsers, text editors, mail clients, feed readers – I’m constantly cycling the apps I use. Four years is a show of resolve, a show of faith.
My faith was broken last week.

As seems to always be the case, the thing that broke my faith wasn’t a personal technology nightmare. It wasn’t my server crashing, it wasn’t a new version that broke my layouts.

It was an email. It was this email, with a subject line of “Movable Type News”:

Since we haven’t sent out a Movable Type newsletter in a while, we wanted to start by sharing the biggest recent news in the Movable Type world: Movable Type Enterprise, an entirely new platform built on the rock-solid MT foundation. After five years of success with Movable Type, Movable Type Enterprise was added to the lineup to help blogs scale gracefully within the most powerful and demanding environments.
Movable Type Enterprise has been one of the most successful launches we’ve ever had at Six Apart. The energy that MT Enterprise has brought to our whole community will be paying off in a lot of ways in 2007, but first we wanted to mention why MT Enterprise might be right for you if you need to take your Movable Type blogs to the next level.

It then continues on with five “great” reasons to upgrade from Movable type to Movable Type Enterprise – none of which apply for personal users.

I’m not exactly sure when or how I signed up for said “Movable Type newsletter” – but back-digging through my email, I’ve received the following emails in the same vein:

* 7/26/06 – “A major upgrade to Movable Type now available”
* 9/12/06 – “Movable Type Price Promotion Extended”
* 11/1/06 – “Movable Type Makes the Most of Business Blogging”

The last email, I should note, covers the release of Movable Type Enterprise 1.5. Not 1.0 – 1.5. Of course, Movable Type Enterprise was actually [announced on March 7th, 2006](http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1934831,00.asp), so it’s not as though the product is brand spanking new.

With the strong push about MT Enterprise, I’m left with a gut feeling that *I should not be using MovableType for my blog*. Even without the email, it’s not hard to come to this conclusion – the [Six Apart homepage](http://www.sixapart.com/) plainly says that Movable type is the “best choice for business blogging”. The [Movable Type homepage](http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/) says things like:

* “Helping Every Company Start A Blog”
* “The most popular platform for professional blogging”
* “Build your business on the shoulders of Movable Type”
* “Blogging Platforms for Small Businesses, Enterprises & Publishers at Movable Type”

The only indication that MovableType may not just be for business blogs is the “Recently Updated Sites” box where, depending on when you look, either a good portion or a significant majority of the sites listed are personal blogs.

There are other signs, too: Mena Trott, president of Six Apart and [baby squirrel](http://weblog.burningbird.net/2004/05/14/never-kick-a-sleeping-giant/), updated her official company blog “Mena’s Corner” four times in 2006. Four posts for the entire year. This blog is prominently advertised on the front page of the Six Apart site, billed as:

[a] chance to show the inner workings of a start-up and give the outside world a glimpse into our challenges, our achievements, and our professional passions.

Meanwhile, Mena’s [personal Vox blog](http://mena.vox.com/) has been updated (publicly) eight times so far this year. One month on Vox equals two times the volume of the company blog. And it’s not like there aren’t posts about the inner workings of the company – posts like [the CES post](http://mena.vox.com/library/post/weve-come-a-long-way.html), or [the one about the Vox World Tour contest](http://mena.vox.com/library/post/what-happiness-looks-like.html) would fit perfectly on Mena’s Corner.

Why am I counting this as a sign? Mena’s Corner runs on MovableType; DollarShort runs on Vox. Vox is new, MovableType is not.
I’m not trying to sit here and take potshots at Mena, or Ben, or Anil, or anyone else who works at Six Apart or loves their products. I am not a shareholder. I am not actively paying for any service, support, or product. It’s their company, and they’re welcome to run it however they want. And I certainly understand the enthusiasm for new products – I work in much the same way.

Simultaneously, I understand the need to drive into the enterprise. The research companies keep banging the pot and ladle about business blogging, and I harbor no grudge towards Six Apart for wanting a piece of that pie. But I feel like the software I’m using is being sacrificed to these ends.

That said, I have to be a bit selfish. I have a vested interest in this site: after all, this site is me. This blog has been running for nearly seven years – over a quarter of my life. In that time, I have graduated from college, gotten married, moved three times, crossed thousands of miles, met hundreds of people. I have seen the world, experienced so much, and grown into who I am today. As I have grown, so has this blog.

But the blog cannot solely be powered by me; I can only use the tools available to channel my thoughts and experiences. If the tools refuse to grow, neither can the blog.

If someone from Six Apart is out there and reading this, I leave you with only one question that needs answering:

**Is there any future in Movable Type as a personal (non-business) blogging platform?**