3 ms·

Or, better example: you make some popular clothes. Hollywood is wearing them and they are just THE RAGE. You'd like everyone to wear your clothes, but you think

by basseq 14y ago

Or, better example: you make some popular clothes. Hollywood is wearing them and they are just THE RAGE. You'd like everyone to wear your clothes, but you think it's better to force people to buy them from your Santa Monica boutique that is only open on Sundays for an hour, and require a receipt from the parking garage to get in the door. People who have been to your store in the last month are allowed to order online, but only a month after you release a new line. A year after you release a new line, you make everything available online, but only if you buy the entire line at once. Another clothes-maker, noticing the popularity of your design and the growing frustration of your customers (and potential customers), creates clothes that look and feel exactly like yours, and make them available with free shipping online within a few hours of you making new designs. Your customers (and potential customers) who don't live in Santa Monica, or those who can't make it to your store during business hours, or those who take public transit—frustrated with the roadblocks you've put between your clothes are their wallets—start buying from the pop-up e-tailer. You complain about how this (and this alone) undermines your business. Your customers say you forced them into it. Neither of you is right.

popup3 14y ago
That's fine. My point was simply that "they won't sell this to me" is an absurd justification for simply taking it.
- basseq 14y ago
  Agreed. But making the point that offering an alternative to piracy (a real alternative... the point is simplicity) will solve part of the problem and is good business sense. But it's change, so it's scary. People waving fistfuls of cash in your face isn't a bad problem to have. And, no, that won't stop piracy. Some people just don't want to pay for something if they can get it for free. But those people are not taking dollars away from your income statement: they never would have bought in the first place.

by basseq 14y ago

popup3 14y ago

That's fine. My point was simply that "they won't sell this to me" is an absurd justification for simply taking it.

basseq 14y ago
Agreed. But making the point that offering an alternative to piracy (a real alternative... the point is simplicity) will solve part of the problem and is good business sense. But it's change, so it's scary. People waving fistfuls of cash in your face isn't a bad problem to have. And, no, that won't stop piracy. Some people just don't want to pay for something if they can get it for free. But those people are not taking dollars away from your income statement: they never would have bought in the first place.