Mark Evans

How Do You Fight the Free Phenomena?

According to a study by the Business Software Alliance and IDC, piracy has cost the software industry a staggering $40-billion - which is a mountain of Windows, Office and other high-end products. Aside from the fact it’s a huge problem that shows few, if any, signs of going away soon, it also puts the spotlight on how the high-tech industry is losing the war against free (aka WAF). Not only do people want to have free software but they want free Web 2.0 services and, according to a Forrester report, free video as well.

How did we get here? I can remember the early days of the Web when freeware - usually utilities - were all the rage as long as you were willing to spend long periods of time for them to download using an agonizingly slow dial-up connection. Today, free is everywhere and everything. How many useful Web 2.0 services can actually charge you right out of game as opposed to pulling you in with a free service and hoping you’ll upgrade to a more feature-rich version? (As if!) When it comes to video, a bunch of major players (Google, Apple, NBC) are counting on the fact people will pay for downloads and streams. But if Forrester’s report is anywhere accurate, this fee-based model is going out the door - and soon.

Can software avoid the free phenomena? Clearly not despite massive legal and marketing efforts by the large players to attack the problem. There are many people who think nothing of using a pirated, copied or free version of Windows, Office, PhotoShop, etc. In China, more than 80% of all software being used is apparently pirated.

Is there any way to rescue ourselves from free? I mean, free doesn’t pay the bills, keep the lights on, cover the salaries for developers, marketers and CEOs. Free doesn’t inspire innovation (other than perhaps two guys working in their basement on the next great video-sharing service). Free is a scourge as much as everyone, including myself, likes the idea of free. Maybe it’s advertising that saves the day. Maybe it’s the idea targeted advertising can replace/supplement having to pay for something. For example, what if Photoshop users had to see targeted relevant ads from graphic arts suppliers, printers, etc. if they were using a free version.

For more, check out InfoWorld.

Related Posts

• It's Live, It's Microsoft
• This Phone Call Brought to You by Google
• Getting Played By Microsoft

What’s the Techmeme Secret?

Want to know how Techmeme works? Gabe Rivera, who started and operates the services, tells Beet.tv some of his secrets. (Hat tip to Mathew Ingram)

Related Posts

• Q&A with Gabe Rivera
• What’s Up with Techmeme?
• Techmeme’s Top-100 Launched

Hey, We’re Talking Tech

In this week’s Talking Tech podcast, Duncan, Kevin and I talk about:

- Nortel: Is hyperconnectivity going to save Canada’s flagship technology company

-  MySpace moves into Canada; Facebook moves into free classfied ads

-  Porn: 379 million pages on the Web; $2.89-billion of online business in the U.S. last year. Go figure.

Related Posts

• The Booming e-Porn Business
• Hey, We’re Talking Tech
• Hey, We’re Talking Tech

New MacBooks: Sweet

I gotta get me one of these new MacBooks, preferably the 13-inch black model! Isn’t Father’s Day just around the corner?!

Related Posts

• A Guide for the Couch Potato
• Let's Party Like it's 1999
• VOIP: A Black Hole?

Are You Into Fashion or Music?

If you’re into fashion and/or music, b5media wants you. We’ve got two exciting projects in the works.

First, we’re launching a new music channel that will cater to all kinds of music lovers. We’re looking for writers who are passionate about music - be it reggae, rock, rap, alternative, indie rock, classic rock, albums reviews, country, jazz, etc. If you’re looking for a great place to blog about music and a fantastic community of fellow bloggers, swing on over to b5media.com/jobs where you can apply. Please let us know what kind of music you’d like to write about.

For the fashionistas out there, we’re looking for someone truly passionate about fashion and beauty to run a new business unit. Core skills are a huge passion for fashion, a love of developing community, an appetite to build something new, and some flair/skills when it comes to sales and marketing. If you’re curious, send a note to resumes@b5media.com.

Related Posts

• Wanted: Kick-Ass Music Bloggers
• You Want to be a Rock Star?
• Ted Rogers: Style Guru

Facebook is Different

The National Post’s new Geek Boutique blog features a nice piece of link bait - “The Death of Web 2.0 is Upon Us”. It’s a post about how many companies and governments are banning Facebook amid the fear employees will waste too much time on the Web. The writer, Peter Nowak, goes on to say that “until it can be demonstrated exactly how a business can use Facebook to [improve productivity and outreach], companies and governments should get the benefit of the doubt and be able to block access to whatever sites they want. After all, most businesses frown on employees using company time to surf for porn, right?”

Nowak may be right about companies being concerned about time-wasters but I would argue that most workers are responsible about how much time they spend online. In fact, providing your companies with online guidelines (e.g. don’t surf porn, don’t spend too much time on eBay, Facebook, etc.) is a better approach than banning access to Web sites, which suggests you don’t trust the people who work for you.

As well, the more I think about why Facebook has become so popular among many professionals who had little or no time for MySpace, it’s because it has intriguing potential to be a useful networking and communications tool. The ability to connect with peers and colleagues, for example, could make it as valuable as LinkedIn - and you don’t hear much about any companies banning the use of LinkedIn, do you? By the way, the National Post should think about getting rid of the need to register before you can make a comment.

By the way, eMarketer expects ad spending on U.S. social networking sites will climb to $2.5-billion by 2011 from $900-million in 2007.

Related Posts

• LinkedIn vs. Facebook? Not Really
• Ban the Internet @ Work
• The Booming e-Porn Business

Whatcha Thinking, Microsoft?

So Microsoft has decided its finally had enough of the whole free software/open source movement chipping away at the franchise. After years of watching products such as Linux and Firefox take market share, Microsoft has come up with a new, innovative strategy: if you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em. Microsoft, which has mostly failed to diversify into other businesses despite massive amounts of investment, is claiming that Linux violates more than 200 of its patents, and it wants big-time royalties or watch out.

This is a strategy that smacks of desperation from a strategic and public relations perspective. It’s a move that flies in the face of where technology is heading. Rather than fight the power, Microsoft should be embracing the open-source movement. Maybe Microsoft is scared. Maybe it’s tried to play nice but realized the open-source movement is a tsunami that can only be driven back by its army of legal beagles. Maybe Microsoft has a good legal case here but the idea of going after Linux is bizarre. If Microsoft ever wanted to drive customers into the arms of Linux, Firefox, Open Office, etc. this appears to be a great way to do it.

Related Posts

• A New and Improved IE?
• Chrome to Kill Firefox? Be Serious
• Firefox Fires Away

The Booming e-Porn Business

Pornography has always been one of the dirty little secrets of the high-tech world. No one wants to talk about it much but porn is not only a huge online business but one of the most innovative industries in embracing new technology. The online porn industry’s size is colorfully illustrated by this video produced by Good Magazine, which provides the following titillating details (my apologies for the puns!):

- there are 372 million porn pages on the Web
- 25% of all search requests are porn related
- “sex” is the most popular search request
- $2.84-billion of online porn revenue was generated in the U.S. last year
- 12% of Web sites are porn-related
- the leading porn site is adultfriendfinder.com, which receives 7.2 million unique visitors a month (#49 overall)
- 89% of all online porn produced in the U.S.

When it comes to technology, the porn industry was one of the first to embrace the VCR, e-commerce and streaming video. It’s all about supply and demand.

Hat tip to TechCrunch for profiling the video. For more thoughts, check out Howard Lindzon.

Related Posts

• Wireless Porn
• Porn for Mobile Warrior
• Is MySpace 1st or 5th?

DWT: It’s About Time

According to the New York Times, the state of Washington has signed a new law that bans driving while texting, or DWT, with a cellphone, Blackberry or other mobile device. All I can say is it’s about time. In fact, they should add another DWT ban (driving while talking) given how it’s nearly impossible for anyone to talk and focus all of their attention on driving at the same time. I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to deal with bad drivers only to see them gabbing away on their mobile phones.

Related Posts

• Let’s Focus, People
• How About Just Driving?
• Rogers Preparing for iPhone with New Data Plans?

Google: A Start-Up’s Dream

You know it’s an even better day to be a high-tech entrepreneur amid Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s admission that the search engine giant makes about one acquisition a week (probably little start-ups most people have never heard about). It’s good news for anyone running a start-up that looming just over the horizon is a cash-rich, M&A hungry, quasi-benevolent entity looking to snap you up for millions of dollars. Sometimes they want you and your technology; sometimes they just want your technology, which means you just get to spend a few months enjoying the comforts of the GooglePlex before you get booted onto the street with your Google t-shirt and Google dollars. For any entrepreneur struggling to pay the bills and find customers, especially customers who actually pay for your service, there’s reason to be optimistic that you’ll become Google’s next Buy o’ the Week. It makes you feel good all over to be a tech entrepreneur!

Related Posts

• Google Continues to Fascinate
• Stupid Shirt Tricks
• Google Gadget Goldrush