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This ship has sailed. For most people this is no ethical dilemma. Argue all you want, but the user does not care. They have the whip hand. If we don't provide s

by arjie 13y ago

This ship has sailed. For most people this is no ethical dilemma. Argue all you want, but the user does not care. They have the whip hand. If we don't provide something suitable, they will not care. No one is going to buy a TV for Amazon Instant Video support. They will buy the TV, see that it does not support the service, and promptly pirate the content they want. We will adapt to this situation, or lose to those who will. And if no one adapts? Then many will pirate. And all our diatribes against freeloaders will do nothing to stop them.

tptacek 13y ago
"For most people this is no ethical dilemma"? That's an argument? For most of Wall Street there's no ethical dilemma in speculative schemes that wreck the commercial paper market. Can I trot out "for most people there's no dilemma" in the zillion HN Wall Street threads too?
- arjie 13y ago
  It's not an argument. It's a statement of what I believe to be fact. We can try legislation, DRM, or better services. The first two aren't working. I'm not saying it's good that it's this way. I pay.
tunap 13y ago
"No one is going to buy a TV for Amazon Instant Video support. " Actually, a client bought a "smart" TV to watch BlazeTV. When he realized it wasn't smart enough to offer the channel he wanted(licensing, crap proprietary software) he called me to "make it work". I bought a Roku, delivered & set it up. He watched < 4 hours of the target channel, called me up and told me to pack the whole thing up. Gone are the Roku, the TV and all subscriptions cancelled. Here's a target consumer who wants to pay but is not willing to pay, pay more & then jump through a myriad of hoops. edit, forgot your 2nd paragraph: he doesn't pirate the content, it's not that important to him. He does listen to the live audio offered free of charge on his phone now that I set that up for him.

by arjie 13y ago

tptacek 13y ago

"For most people this is no ethical dilemma"? That's an argument? For most of Wall Street there's no ethical dilemma in speculative schemes that wreck the commercial paper market. Can I trot out "for most people there's no dilemma" in the zillion HN Wall Street threads too?

arjie 13y ago
It's not an argument. It's a statement of what I believe to be fact. We can try legislation, DRM, or better services. The first two aren't working. I'm not saying it's good that it's this way. I pay.

tunap 13y ago

"No one is going to buy a TV for Amazon Instant Video support. " Actually, a client bought a "smart" TV to watch BlazeTV. When he realized it wasn't smart enough to offer the channel he wanted(licensing, crap proprietary software) he called me to "make it work". I bought a Roku, delivered & set it up. He watched < 4 hours of the target channel, called me up and told me to pack the whole thing up. Gone are the Roku, the TV and all subscriptions cancelled. Here's a target consumer who wants to pay but is not willing to pay, pay more & then jump through a myriad of hoops. edit, forgot your 2nd paragraph: he doesn't pirate the content, it's not that important to him. He does listen to the live audio offered free of charge on his phone now that I set that up for him.