[ale] The world just got screwed....

[Geoffrey]

Yeah, it's the old marketing ploy, give them a razor and they'll buy 
razor blades from you forever.

Kinda like sell them an xbox at a loss and make the money up in games...

Michael Hirsch wrote:
> On Tue, 2002-08-27 at 17:39, Mike Lockhart wrote:
> 
>>I can agree with that.  They do have a legitimate and rightful claim on
>>the format which I have no problem with. The only problem I see with it
>>though is that mp3 has become such an entrenched standard that it will
>>be extremely hard to get licensing fee's from people.  Additionally, I
>>think they should have just stuck with licensing the encoder.  Think of
>>all the systems and applications out there currently that use mp3
>>decoding.  
> 
> 
> Like in the song "The Old Dope Peddler" by Tom Lehrer;
> 
>    He gives the kids free samples
>    Because he knows full well
>    That today's young innocent faces
>    Will be tomorrow's clientele.
> 
> Some call it unethical.  Others call it smart business practice.  I
> suspect that Thompson Labs had no clue that it was such a valuable
> technology.  Fortunately for them, the legal/business system has become
> quite sympathetic to post hoc licensing restrictions.
> 
> --Michael
>  
> 
>>On Tue, 2002-08-27 at 16:34, Michael Hirsch wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 2002-08-27 at 16:33, Mike Lockhart wrote:
>>>
>>>>If anyone hasn't already seen it, immediately read this article:
>>>>
>>>>"New MP3 License Terms Demand $0.75 Per Decoder"
>>>>http://slashdot.org/articles/02/08/27/1626241.shtml?tid=155
>>>>
>>>>Maybe this is the conspiracy theorist coming out in me, but I have a
>>>>funny feeling that RIAA had a lot to do with this.  Redhat has already
>>>>removed ALL mp3 players/encoders from the Rawhide tree.  
>>>
>>>Thompson labs has been threatening to do this for a couple of years. 
>>>Their claims on mp3 decoding are a bit shakey, so they started by
>>>charging for the encoding which was pretty legitimate.  Now that that is
>>>well established they are going after decoders.
>>>
>>>IMO, the mp3 encoder is as valid an invention as any piece of hardware. 
>>>If any software should be patentable, the mp3 encoder is a good
>>>example.  It is not one of thos obvious things like XOR cursor or
>>>one-click shopping.
>>>
>>>The decoder I am less certain about, and from what I've heard their
>>>patent is not as clearly applicable in that case.
>>>
>>>
>>>>On the upside, this will be a great boost for the Ogg format.
>>>
>>>Yes indeed.
>>>
>>>Michael
>>>
>>
>>-- 
>>
>>================================
>>Michael Lockhart - PHP Developer
>>Intercosmos Media Group
>>mailto:mlockhart at intercosmos.com
>>http://orbital.intercosmos.net
>>================================
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

I didn't have to buy my radio from a specific company to listen
to FM, why doesn't that apply to the Internet (anymore...)?


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