[ILUG] Amazon (and linux, transmeta)

[kevin lyda]

Twomey_Mark at emc.com wrote:
> Do you really think Netscape would have allowed free downloads of
> Communicator if Microsoft had not    given IE away for free?
> Look at Linux, the community has forced both Sun and Be's hand. Be is moving
> away from the desktop market and Sun is giving Solaris 8 away sans license
> fee to both consumers and corporate customers.
> The OS market is turning into a warzone.
> Who win's?
> We do.
> 
> Transmeta fires a shot across Intel's bow and two days later Chipzilla cuts
> prices.
> Who win's?
> We do.

i suppose i understand this reasoning if capitalism is a goal unto
itself.  but if you think of capitalism as a tool to organise and
motivate people i don't think money is the end all statistical
measurement of success.  in the case of linux we got some other free
os's.  big deal.  there are probably more valid windows licenses
floating around then computers to run them on.  with linux you get a
platform to learn from, implement custom solutions, standard solutions,
and to support new industries in ways the original developers didn't
imagine.  you don't get that flexibility with the suddenly free os's.

otoh with transmeta you get a chip with new abilities.  yes, it's
cheaper but it;s also less resource intensive - less power, less
silicon.  when you consider the posibilities of solid state mass storage
and electronic paper you can imagine laptops where time between
rechargecan be measured in months.  toss in the energy cells i saw on
slashdot, and you might be talking years.

i sadly must still file taxes in the states, and the complexity involved
of filing from abroad and being a consultant my last few months in
boston finally drove me to an accountant.  when she learned i was a
software developer she wanted all my software receipts.  i gave her 3
receipts for redhat and freebsd purchases totalling < $100.  all other
developers were able to come up with thousands - one guy had $5000. 
think of the barrier to entry in this field if you were to need certs
and dev subscriptions from ms, apple, oracle, sun, novell, et al. 
insane.  theoretically a motivated person could learn linux with zero
cost (and do so without violating the law).

that's the benefit i see in linux's low cost, and part of that is the
available code for examples.

as far as amazon goes i think their patent is wrong.  first the entire
idea of a patent is to motivate people to take risks.  selling books on
the net was a risk, but one click ordering wasn't.  second by and large
the biggest risk of the net was setting it up.  not very many patents
involved there.  why didn't the guy who invented the @ for email take
out a patent?  what about the guy who thought up |?  it seems obvious
now, but the first pass at piping used something else.  it's like going
to a potluck supper and charging for the chocolates you brought.  and
third it's rude to consumers.  "hi, we came up with this useful thing
and we won't let anyone use it (unless they pay for it and pass the cost
on to you.  have a nice day."  and their patent nicely combines all
three.

kevin
-- 
kevin at suberic.net                              Nutrition Facts
fork()'ed on 37058400		       Puns: 100% RDA  (% good puns: 0)