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Dirty Percent

daringfireball.net

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Re: Dirty Percent

#61

Post by pederb72 »

lwhi wrote: post #53
pederb72 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can remember, Apple/Steve Jobs talked the music industry into dropping DRM on music. As the leading ebooks store Amazon should be the one to push to remove DRM from books.

Well, I'm still waiting for the day when I can drag and drop one of these DRM free MP3s onto an iPod (without having to shackle my device to my computer via iTunes). It's not exactly freedom in the best sense of the word ;) Are iBooks DRM free? I don't think so ...

The Dropbox app on iOS can play mp3 files so you don't have to use iTunes to sync your music.

iBooks having DRM is (IMO) a problem with the publishing industry, just as DRM on music used to be a problem with the music industry. I want Amazon, and Apple, to push the publishing industry into dropping DRM on books.

Re: Dirty Percent

#62

Post by shaggyfrog »

kenjackson wrote: post #41
alanh wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Gruber has stated that he does not believe Apple is ignorant of the consequences of taking 30% of Kindle sales or Netflix subscriptions via iOS — after all, Apple built Netflix support directly into AppleTV. He believes the company has probably been in talks with Amazon, Netflix, and similar companies for some time.

There's a lesson here. Build your brand inside of iOS and you're screwed. Apple can choke you. Build it outside of iOS and you have a chance to have reasonable terms. As nice as iOS is, w/o middlemen, established outside of iOS, like Kindle and Netflix -- it probably gets killed by Android.

That lesson is not limited to "iOS" and "Apple". If you place the financial future of your company solely to $PLATFORM, then $PLATFORM_OWNER will always present a risk. That's why the smart companies also get their services running on $PLATFORM_B, $PLATFORM_C and $PLATFORM_D.

Re: Dirty Percent

#63

Post by Travis »

lwhi wrote: post #51
sutro wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know of a browser plugin that will automatically eliminate from view any Hacker News comment containing the phrase "ad hominem?" Ad-Hom Block Pro or some such?

Well said. I die a little inside, every time I read those words (and the inevitable dissection that veers away from the actual content of the discussion, and towards the process of deciding who's 'right'). Debating is good and fine - but (imo) sometimes, concentrating on the minutia isn't as worthwhile as expressing an idea. Discussion can exist without this constant battle to score 'points'.

Funny running into you on this thread, after our earlier discussion. I want to thank you for identifying for me what it is about online discussions that turn me off. You really hit the nail on the head with: "Discussion can exist without this constant battle to score 'points'."

Re: Dirty Percent

#64

Post by mfarris »

sutro wrote: post #24
siglesias wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad hominem. You should address logical flaws and false statements. And he was critical of Apple in two of the four points, so your premise is false. Edit: This discussion is also something of a strawman, attacking none of the important arguments made in the article. The point about what Gruber would say if Microsoft had done this is simply a preemption of an ad hominem attack against himself and it's quite unfortunat…

Does anyone know of a browser plugin that will automatically eliminate from view any Hacker News comment containing the phrase "ad hominem?" Ad-Hom Block Pro or some such?

And add "Strawman" to Ad-Hom Block Pro. The moment I see somebody use that word I think, "This person learned to 'argue' by reading Internet forums. Disregard."

Few things grate as much as the self-satisfied "strawman" police.

Re: Dirty Percent

#65

Post by lwhi »

pederb72 wrote: post #61
lwhi wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm still waiting for the day when I can drag and drop one of these DRM free MP3s onto an iPod (without having to shackle my device to my computer via iTunes). It's not exactly freedom in the best sense of the word ;) Are iBooks DRM free? I don't think so ...

The Dropbox app on iOS can play mp3 files so you don't have to use iTunes to sync your music. iBooks having DRM is (IMO) a problem with the publishing industry, just as DRM on music used to be a problem with the music industry. I want Amazon, and Apple, to push the publishing industry into dropping DRM on books.

I think I'd like to be able to pay an author directly - that would be my ideal solution; and an ebook should necessarily cost less than a paper book. But I agree - removal of DRM should be a target.

The MP3 tip's a good one - thanks.

Re: Dirty Percent

#66

Post by lwhi »

Travis wrote: post #63
lwhi wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. I die a little inside, every time I read those words (and the inevitable dissection that veers away from the actual content of the discussion, and towards the process of deciding who's 'right'). Debating is good and fine - but (imo) sometimes, concentrating on the minutia isn't as worthwhile as expressing an idea. Discussion can exist without this constant battle to score 'points'.

Funny running into you on this thread, after our earlier discussion. I want to thank you for identifying for me what it is about online discussions that turn me off. You really hit the nail on the head with: "Discussion can exist without this constant battle to score 'points'."

I've (tragically) spent far too many hours trying to convince various developers that tables aren't good for layout - my motives are sincere - but I admit, it's a conversation that's more than enough to turn anyone off :)

I meant what I said about emailing if you'd like some tips about CSS - I had few 'a-ha' moments that really made my life easier.

Re: Dirty Percent

#67

Post by mbrubeck »

jonknee wrote: post #55
mbrubeck wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I like about Gruber, even when I disagree with him, is that I think he understands , better than any other outside commentator, how Apple's management team thinks and works. He's not a leading expert on business, or on technology, but I'd call him a leading expert on Steve Jobs' mind. This understanding is part of why Gruber often seems like an Apple apologist. Even when he disagrees with Apple' decisions, he ca…

> This understanding is part of why he often seems like an Apple apologist. Even when Gruber disagrees with Apple' decisions, he can generally give a good explanation of why the decision was made and why Steve and Tim and company probably think it is the right one. And of course, when he is writing based on Apple's point of view as a corporation, the primary question is always "What is best for Apple?" Yet he rarely…

But that's just the thing... People often act like Gruber is writing about how things should be, but more often he's just writing about how things are (or how he thinks they will be), and why.

--

As a side note... I got my first Mac in 1989. I've been reading the Mac press for over 20 years, and Daring Fireball for about 7 or 8 years. There was a time in the "dark ages" of the 90s when even the most die-hard Apple fans had a "love the product; hate the company" mentality, because it seemed like Apple's management was doing everything they could to screw things up.

Daring Fireball is entirely a product of the Steve Jobs II era, with much more competent management, so it hasn't had quite as much reason to gripe. But Gruber has had some long-standing disagreements with Apple. He bitched for years about how much worse the Finder was in OS X. (I think the only reason he stopped is that he gave up hope that it'll ever be fixed.)

Re: Dirty Percent

#68

Post by ReadyNSet »

natnat wrote: post #28
fleitz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe Costco publishes their vendor agreements so you really have no idea how Costco treats their suppliers. Also, no one complains that Google takes 32% of AdWords.

Google takes all of AdWords, since it's on their own site. They take a 32% cut of AdSense. The thing is, advertisers could use other channels to put ads up on the web. They can advertise with Chitika or whatever and get a bigger cut than they would with Google. They typically don't, because AdSense adds a lot of value by targeting the ads well. On the other hand, if you want to sell software on an iOS device, the onl…

and google never published that percentage until iAd came around.

Re: Dirty Percent

#69

Post by kmfrk »

chollida1 wrote: post #48
ugh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does he? He earns money from ads, do you think he would earn less should he write critically about Apple? (All of this seems very much beside the point, though. Discussions about Daring Fireball have become so predictable. Nobody seems to be even interested in talking about the arguments, everyone wants to throw dirt around.)

> He earns money from ads, do you think he would earn less should he write critically about Apple? Well, he has stated on many occasions that he has "sources" inside of Apple where he gets alot of his information from. If he started to be overly critical of Apple and his sources suddenly dried up then his writing would suffer, his readership would go down and his ad revenue would decease. So I'd say it's pretty easy…

Scrap "overly critical", I just want him to be critical.

And what is the incentive of the Apple insiders? While Gruber may not, they are perfectly capable of forming their own, independent opinions on what Apple proper does, as orthogonal as they may be.

Re: Dirty Percent

#70

Post by glhaynes »

mfarris wrote: post #64
sutro wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know of a browser plugin that will automatically eliminate from view any Hacker News comment containing the phrase "ad hominem?" Ad-Hom Block Pro or some such?

And add "Strawman" to Ad-Hom Block Pro. The moment I see somebody use that word I think, "This person learned to 'argue' by reading Internet forums. Disregard." Few things grate as much as the self-satisfied "strawman" police.

Interestingly, this comment sets up a strawman to represent all people who use the term "strawman"... :)
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