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Proprietary media formats — time to get rid of them!

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CodeTRUCKER:
I am arguing pointing out that without the ability to protect *any kind* of intellectual property the motivation for new creations/modifications will dissipate.-CodeTRUCKER (June 25, 2008, 11:12 AM)
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I believe that is an arguement that reality proves again and again to be false. Artists will always create, it's what they do. If you need convincing just look to opensource software.
-Eóin (June 25, 2008, 11:39 AM)
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I stand corrected.  I should have stated that differently as you are correct in your reply.  I should have been more specific in highlighting that without the "leeches" protecting their interests, how would the products get to you and me, unless we had some direct connection to the artist?

What the world no longer needs is the leeches like the music industry which produce nothing themselves, but simply 'manage' the artists works.

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Again, no argument form me here.  As an over-the-road truck driver, I am all too familiar with the custom of middlemen (brokers and agents) taking an inordinate share of the pie.  As a case in point, I have a friend that is in Laredo TX waiting for his load to be shuttled accross the border and back.  The shipper is paying $500/day for as many days as it takes to finish the unloading.  The broker is taking a full quarter of that revenue as his cut!  If my friend sits 10 days the broker will get $1,250.00 for doing absolutely nothing.  My friend will only get 75%, eventhough he has all the expenses.  The custom of greed is universal.

Zaine's thread originally pointed out what a pain in the neck proprietary extensions are for the consumer.  We are the ones that hijacked the thread to include DRM, etc. since the subjects are akin to each other.  Like Zaine, I have also been inconvenienced and annoyed by these devices.  My perception as an answer to Zaine's offering is this, without these "pains," we (the public at large) would stop seeing products, songs, software, etc. keep coming down the pike as greedy executives observed their ROIs shrivel and evaporate.  If they can't see a new product as the pathway to their new yacht, chalet, big fat bonus, etc. do you think they will expend effort and resources in a philanthropic gesture of goodwill?

zridling:
Good points. I don't mind you/anyone making profit. It can, in fact, be a noble goal. However, when you use your invention — or attach some external method like DRM — to restrict access and fair use of content I've already purchased, then you've crossed the line.

  *************
I don't believe that we'd see product development and creation stop. Making money is incidental to the creative arts, even digital ones like programming. (Ask around and see how many programmers are rich.) Artists like Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Petula Clark, et al. didn't write songs to get rich. That phenomenon is a marketing creation of boy band groups, britney spears, spice girls, hannah montana/disney who for the most part have no talent.

f0dder:
For the music scene, alternatives to the greedy bastards record labels are slowly popping up, and time will tell how well they do. Might never go beyond small-scale indie stuff, but we'll see. Even without any form of DRM, I don't see the music artists dying off anytime soon, though.

Movies could be killed off due to widespread piracy, because they require big budgets. But well, perhaps that'd teach the over-inflated egos (and their over-inflated wages) in the movie industry a lesson? ;). And perhaps indie films that actually have coherent and interesting plots might get some more attention? Before blaming piracy, perhaps the movie industry should do a bit of self-reflection... I'm just not going to spend cash on yet another piss-poor jim carrey or adam sandler movie, sorry. I'd rather sit and watch paint dry than most of the stuff coming out of hollywood these days.

Software industry, ho humm. We'll obviously continue to see open source software, since that's generally driven by passion and not money. Games need big budgets though, and they're pirated a lot... I've more or less stopped buying games (except some small shareware/indie games) because of intrusive/buggy software protections, bugs in the games themselves, or simply because the games suck. I really want spore when it comes out, but the copy protection scheme is making me reconsider. One of the only schemes I feel pretty good about is Valve's STEAM, simply because it doesn't (afaik) use drivers, works on both 32- and 64-bit windows, and doesn't get in your way or blow up in your face.

CodeTRUCKER:
To parrot Zaine, "Good points" to both of you.  Especially the concept of "crossing the line" and the stars(?) needing some reality checks in "self-reflection."

Just as a point of provocation (the good kind), I don't think we could all get together and cut some CDs of "Cody's Crew" or "DC Band" (although with MIDI and Renegade(?) doing the mixes,who knows?). I'm curious if there has been a DC-wide collaborative effort in the spirit of Cody's Home toward a major contender for mainline software? 

Many of us worked solo or in small teams at various contests and this should continue, but think what we could produce if all that talent was collectively directed.  I envision an effort similar to the Flightgear Flight Simulator.  You get the picture.

Ok, I guess you can send me to my room for taking the thread off topic again. :(

Edits - fixed broken link

Deozaan:
Codetrucker: There's something terribly broken with your Flight Simulator link.

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