Andrew Berth

You already know how I feel about these things (here, here and here), but I found two fun articles on exactly the same subject.

First, there's an image on theoatmeal.com that describes why people pirate content. It's really long, so just watch on their site.

Second, Matt Gemmell takes a more serious approach, although the idea of what he's saying is basicly the same.

You should read the entire article. Here's a little preview:

But then you fuck us. First you fuck us with exorbitant pricing. Then you fuck us with inconvenience by not making your content universally available when we want it. Then you fuck us by treating every paying customer like a criminal.

For a while now, I - like a good number of other people - was convinced that (one of) Microsoft's biggest mistake(s) was keeping Office Windows-only. So many people are used to it and refuse to work with anything else. Even Mac users often resorted to just using Office - it was safe and familiar.

With the rise of iOS and Android, it is the first time ever that other dominant platforms are available that can run something like today's Office that isn't controlled by Microsoft. They chose not to develop for them. (Although it seems like that might be changing.)

There's so many devices there today that it certainly is a missed opportunity for ridiculously large amounts of cash. However, as I've recently learned, this isn't Microsoft's biggest mistake.

I learned about their biggest mistake thanks to Patrick Rhone on Minimal Mac. And actually, it was his wife that pointed it out.

I will not quote it here, since you really need the entire story to fully appreciate it. So go read it, it's worth it. Here's his reaction to the point his wife makes:

She then laid down a thought so insightful, so deep, so damned perceptive, that it just about brought me to tears in its completeness.

And it's true. It really is incredibly insightful. It's such a beautiful layer beneath the obvious reason of a missed opportunity to make more money.

Om Malik in The slow rise of the SoMoClo OS:

It doesn’t matter whether we use Windows, Mac, Linux, Android or iOS: We can do all the things we like to do as long as the Internet is there. And if the growing popularity of apps is any indication, even a browser isn’t necessary. The Internet is what matters. From my perspective, the desktop OS of today needs to be built with that reality in mind. Let’s call this the SoMoClo operating system, where SoMoClo stands for social + mobile + cloud.

Exactly¹.

And I also believe a browser won't be necessary. In the future, I don't see the web and browsers, I see interlinked apps using the internet as a backbone.

512pixels pointed me to an excellent article: 10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy.

While they're all really good, I'll share the ones I think are best. (You can all start using them this instant, if you want.)

• Write the way you talk. Naturally.

• Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

• Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

• Never write more than two pages on any subject.

And again, you should really read the entire list. They're all good.

Not so long ago, the popular file-sharing service Megaupload was shut down. Another direct attack on piracy by the owners of copyrighted material. Megaupload was huge, and so the victory has to be just as big, right?

Boy Genius Report, shortly after the takedown:

As big as Megaupload was, however, the service’s closure has not had the effect on file-sharing that copyright owners might have hoped. According to DeepField, Web traffic related to file-sharing recovered almost immediately as users simply utilized other services such as Rapidshare and Mediafire.

So you're telling me after shutting down one popular file-sharing service, those people pirating all kinds of content didn't suddenly start paying?

Shocker.

Again, this approach will never work. There will always be people who don't want to pay - and so they won't. They'll always find a way.

I really wonder why they keep applying the same method when it's obviously not working. Are they just that stupid? Or that greedy? It has to be one or the other.

RIM, following the iPhone announcement and release:

"That's a consumer device and won't affect our stronghold in the enterprise," executives said.

Thanks to The Loop (here, here and here), we can see how RIM compares to Apple today.

• In the last two days $AAPL market cap grew, on average, by one $RIMM per day.

• Using today’s market cap numbers, Apple is worth $459.2 billion and RIM is worth $8.2.

And as for their 'enterprise stronghold'…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dumping RIM’s BlackBerry from its list of officially supported mobile devices, […]

The U.S. government will instead supply workers with new iPhones and iPads.

Those RIM executives should write a book on how not to succeed.

Chrome for Android is out. Finally. I still think it's weird this had to wait until 2012.

Anyway, from the looks of it, it seems awesome. It's too bad I can't test it since I don't own an Ice Cream Sandwich device. Even more sad is that only 1% of all Android devices have ICS, so even with an Android device, your chances of being able to give it a test run are small.

However, to those who can try the beta today, it seems they've got a significant advantage over not only Android users, but smartphone users in general. There are many awesome features, like the swift and fun swiping between tabs. And there's so much more, it's too much to sum up - check the TechCrunch article for a more detailed overview.

Numerous people have already asked Sundar Pichai - Google's VP of Chrome - about a possible iOS version. While that certainly would be nice, I won't be holding my breath. It's obvious (and understandable) Android users will always get preferential treatment.

For iOS users, the most reasonable thing to do is hope Apple seriously improves Mobile Safari, especially everything related to tabs. I've always been happy with Mobile Safari in terms of speed, but it just lacks some features for serious productivity. Chrome for Android just showed how good it can be, and I hope I'll get to enjoy a similar browser soon.

John Gruber on the classic interview with Steve Ballmer in 2007:

The damning thing isn’t that Apple got there first; it’s that even after Apple revealed it, that Ballmer didn’t get it, that he didn’t see instantly that Apple had unveiled something amazing and transformative.

That is, indeed, the damning thing. It's one thing to not come up with a brilliant idea yourself. It's another thing to, once you've already seen the concept, quickly and completely dismiss it.

Had someone who was suited for the job been the head of Microsoft at the time, they might have been in a noticeably better position today.

Seth Godin wrote a few small but wonderful paragraphs on innovation and organizations. He compares them to trapeze artists:

If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long.

Just about every organization fears going through large transitions. They fear changing what they do or how they work. However, when you're not able to change, when you're not able to let go of the old to make room for the new, you're doomed to disappear.

David Sparks on speculative developers - developers who constantly create new, poorly thought out apps hoping to win the App Store lottery:

If you want to develop apps, take your time and make something awesome. Make it fast. Make it beautiful. Make something you’re proud of. Don’t make 60 crappy apps: Make one really good one.

While this piece focuses on software development, I believe this is applicable to a lot more than just software.