Crunched

Litigation in the making...

All the major sports leagues are notorious for protecting their brands and trademarks -- NFL, MLB, NHL,etc -- , simply look at the licensing deals some sites like Yahoo have needed to go through. And to top it off, they are mixing in virtual dollars (gambling) into the mix, which has been under fire recently in the U.S.

Its an untapped market for sure, but a snake-pit in litigation issues. May be the next YouTube you never know, but I doubt it, the sports leagues are more aware of the online world the movie studios.

I'd love to hear your suggestion for a replacement. Any ideas where I can get an open OS that does exactly what I want it to while being absolutely sure that my personal activity is not being recorded or monitored in some way (either by vendor or virus)? Is there any OS where I can copy my $HOME directory to a newly-installed system and have all my applications behave in the same way they did on my old one? Other than OSX (which happens to get many benefits from open source tools which compile on it), is there another OS where anything you feasibly want to do with your computer is a Google search away? How about updating every single application on my computer to the latest version with a single command? Those are just a few of the things I appreciate about Linux without even mentioning its cost.

Linux has many inconveniences that have been gradually disappearing. On the other hand, the benefits that it offers are something that I have no hope of getting from a proprietary solution. I've only been using it for less than a year and a half, and I'm finding that my day-to-day usage has become more efficient than my Windows experience by leaps and bounds. I admit that I occasionally become frustrated by certain activities (wireless networking and suspend/hibernation routines come to mind), but even things like this are getting easier thanks to not-yet-1.0 software like NetworkManager.

I seriously expect that within a few more years, Linux will be no harder to use than any other OS out there, with the added benefit of it being more free and flexible than any other option. Problem solved.

On another note, if (as a service provider) you came back to me with that proposition, that would be a surefire way to lose a customer. I postulate that the average Linux customer would be more helpful to you than the average Windows or even Mac customer, as I would expect a higher level of technical savvy (less frivolous calls/e-mails to customer service) and a higher likelihood to file legitimate bug reports. If you are chasing these people away, you are losing on more than one count.

I was quite happy with Yahoo Games when I was a Windows user. I played Chess, Hearts, Euchre, and more on Yahoo Games. Once I had any problems with Java applets, however, Yahoo Games became a casualty of those problems. I literally spent at least an hour a day on Yahoo Games before switching to Linux. At that point, Yahoo's technology got in the way and I looked for non-Java alternatives. Unless you have no chance of having non-Java competition (I'm thinking of my local gas company here), it would really be a shame to lose potential users because of your technology choice.

"I'd love to hear your suggestion for a replacement." Windows XP.

When deciding what OS(or whatever) to use try and focus on more than one thing. Otherwise you end up focusing on the wrong things. I average less than 1 hour a month messing with my XP box at home. So for me messing with other desktop OS's is a waste of time.

PS: I have written low level networking code for Mac OS 7 though OS X, BSD Unix, and Linux so I know the alternatives far better than most people, but IMO as a home desktop windows just works. And at the end of the day don't you have more important things to do with your time than muck around with your OS?

I think the Java vs. Flex debate is out of place here. The way Matt's comment re Java fits into the discussion has more to do with the amount of attention that most Fantasy Sports providers are giving to the domain. In that context, I think Matt is on the money. The big providers are not keenly focused on the problem. I'm an avid fantasy sports fan, and my experience has been far from optimal.

The killer part of the app is that it offers the ability to bet online and get quick gratification. Draftmix hits the action player's sweet spot, and I suspect apps in this area will drastically outperform their season-long counterparts. Anyone familiar with gambling economics knows that the action players and casual gamers drive the economy.

The argument about skill vs. chance in the comments of the TechCrunch article is interesting. I think it's easy to make a compelling argument that success in the short term format might require more skill than season long formats, but legislators have demonstrated that compelling arguments hold less value than one might think they should.