Better Than Owning - access trumps possession • Hacker News Board

Re: Better Than Owning - access trumps possession

#11

Post by zzzmarcus » Thu, Jan 22, 2009, 9:23 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #7

I'd disagree with this entirely. In the digital era, ownership is so darned easy there's no reason not to own. At the very least, I have no plans to let my glorious cloud overlords have that much control over my experience. Look at this in terms of power relationships and this whole essay is a paean to the virtues of turning over all control and power over you to somebody else. Thanks, but no thanks. I know how that…

I disagree with parts of it, but not entirely. For example some exceptions I can think of:

Hosting: I'm happy with MediaTemple and Slicehost owning the servers and bandwith and renting me access. Managing them is too time consuming and their value diminishes too quickly.

Boats, Planes: Again, owning them is a pain. Moving, maintaining and repairing them is expensive and time consuming. They lose value quickly. Renting time using them seems much better.

Houses: This one's a little more complex since the value often appreciates, but I think at times it's better to rent. For me, it means freedom to move, keeps more of my capital liquid etc.

The blanket statement "access trumps ownership" is too general, but I think his essay does bring up a valid point--in some cases, and perhaps more now than ever, access does trump ownership.

Re: Better Than Owning - access trumps possession

#12

Post by sokoloff » Thu, Jan 22, 2009, 10:54 PM UTC

zzzmarcus wrote: post #11

jerf wrote: post #7

I'd disagree with this entirely. In the digital era, ownership is so darned easy there's no reason not to own. At the very least, I have no plans to let my glorious cloud overlords have that much control over my experience. Look at this in terms of power relationships and this whole essay is a paean to the virtues of turning over all control and power over you to somebody else. Thanks, but no thanks. I know how that…

I disagree with parts of it, but not entirely. For example some exceptions I can think of: Hosting: I'm happy with MediaTemple and Slicehost owning the servers and bandwith and renting me access. Managing them is too time consuming and their value diminishes too quickly. Boats, Planes: Again, owning them is a pain. Moving, maintaining and repairing them is expensive and time consuming. They lose value quickly. Rentin…

"If it flies, floats, or , it's cheaper to rent."

Re: Better Than Owning - access trumps possession

#13

Post by jrp » Thu, Jan 22, 2009, 11:41 PM UTC

olefoo wrote: post #8

noonespecial wrote: post #3

If you can borrow anything you needed without possessing it, you gain the same benefits with fewer disadvantages. If this was a magic rental store, where most of the gear was stored "downstairs" in a virtual basement, then whenever you summoned an item or service it would appear at your command. To a large extent, the super rich already live in exactly this manner. I would not be at all surprised to learn that Donald…

And with a few advances in automated fabrication and a lot of creative work by startups we could take this approach to a mass market. Although I think http://www.zipcar.com/ has the summon a car thing covered for the urban middle class.

This seems expensive. $50/yr + one time $25 + $70 daily? The hourly rate is cool I guess ($10) but really, standard car rental places are pretty cheap.

Re: Better Than Owning - access trumps possession

#14

Post by delackner » Fri, Jan 23, 2009, 4:00 AM UTC

The final line of this overreaching and hand-wavy article had a keen observation:

"as the ability to modify is squeezed from classic ownership models (think of those silly shrink-wrap warranties), ownership is degraded."

Indeed, why would I want to buy a DVD for $20 when every single time it boots there is a minute of fluff footage that you are forced to watch? This is worth paying for?

If the traditional media (book, audio, film) companies don't wake up soon, then people are going to decide that the actual VALUE of all information is zero, even though it is clearly above zero.