High priced software, the industry, and barriers to entry

I've never run any studies or polled any college students, but if I had to guesstimate as to the numbers of high school and college students who own pirated software, I'd say it were nine out of every ten. Unfortunately, the software producers are making the same guesstimate and thus spend countless hours of research time to make their software crack proof. They're so scared to lose money on every pirated copy that they don't realize that they're hurting themselves more by locking people out than by allowing the insignificant pirates a lift over the barriers to entry.

Let's pick on adobe for a while. Adobe's Creative Suite software package has become and industry standard. Their flagship applications Adobe Photoshop is arguably the most powerful image editing and manipulation software on the market. However, it had two huge problems from the end user's point of view. First off, the application is a behemoth.It's almost like mastering an ancient style of martial arts; you could practice your entire life and never fully master it. Secondly, and even more important to potential adopters, it is far too expensive for the average person to justify trying it out. The full version of Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended retails for $999. The applications costs almost as much as the computer you're going to need to run it at full capacity.

How can your average Joe, wanting to get into Photoshop, afford to throw out that much money just to attempt to adopt a new software platform? The fact is that they can't. And they don't. If your average Joe is going to pick up Photoshop, he is going to have to pirate it. But is this really as bad for Adobe as they might thing? In my opinion no. In fact, I think your average Joe pirating Photoshop is actually going to potentially make Adobe more money in the grand scheme of things.

It's simple logic: Only people who are extremely skilled with photoshop are going to justify paying for it. Furthermore, only people who use it on a normal basis are going to be extremely skilled with it. Therefore, you need to get copies of Photoshop into the hands of your average Joes so they can become your future customers.

Here's an example: Back when I was Junior High, a friend of mine gave me a copy of a CD that his father had brought back from Japan for him. The CD was called "The Installer" and it contained somewhere around 200 different software applications and their corresponding serial numbers. One of these applications happened to be Adobe Photoshop (4.0). At this point in time, I had never heard of photoshop, never seen a copy of it, or really even knew what it was for, however I installed it and started playing around in it. Over time I fell in love with the program and I'm now an Adobe user for life. My learning on Photoshop didn't technically cost Adobe anything, however, it taught me how to use and appreciate their products.

Once I began working in the industry, and photoshop became a business model and not a recreational activity, the companies I worked for purchased copies of the Adobe Suites with complete site licenses. They would even purchase the upgrades every time Adobe changed the software. So in the end, adobe was making money. The thing is, without the skills I'd learned from my pirated copy of Photoshop 4, I wouldn't have the ability to get the job in the first place.

The barrier of entry to being a photoshop purchaser is far too high. The fact of the matter is that Adobe needs to get copies of their software into the hands of youth so that they can grow up learning on the software. Only then will they be skilled enough to get the jobs that keep Adobe's pockets filled. From what I've heard, Adobe Creative Suite 3 is the currently their most protected and hardest to crack releases in the companies history. While they likely view this as an accomplishment, I view it as helping the competition by driving potential new customers to cheaper alternatives. I'm more willing to use a $50 program that just gets the job done, than a $1000 program that does far more than I need.

posted by Christopher Schnese

GameStop: The Warehouse Music of Gaming

Does anyone remember Warehouse music. I'm sure most of you don't, but it was a horrible music store with even more horrible prices. They had a very horrible pricing structure where brand new CDs were priced according to the market, but all of a bands older CD's would for some reason be jacked up to around $17.99 (or the price of a DVD). Well, long story short, hey went out of business. Well, it seems that GameStop is trying to follow in their footsteps.

If you're like me and you prefer to purchase brand new game, then you'll never notice the problem with GameStop. However, if you've ever attempted to purchase one of their used titles, you will notice that it's simply not worth your time. For instance, right now you can walk into GameStop and purchase a used copy of Gears Of War for the Xbox 360 for the "special discounted" price of $54.99. The thing is that if you wanted to spend a measly $5.00 more at the suggested retail price of $59.99. If the five dollars really enough to make you want to buy a previously opened, previously played, possibly with no manual, dinged up box, copy of this game? I for one would not.

In fact, I just did a search on Amazon.com and what do you know. Their used price is only $34.99. And that's not even the best part. They're actually selling the brand new copy of the game for $55.99 and if you order it in the next six hours you're eligible for free super saver one day shipping. I just don't know how GameStop gets away with this kind of thing. Now I shop there for the simple fact that it's right by my house, but I would never buy a used game from them. However, every time I'm in the store there's some kid there buy a used copy of some random game that wouldn't even be worth it at half the price. When I see this it almost makes me want to hand the kid a fiver and just tell him to buy a new one. I just can't stand it. But it's economics I guess. There are enough suckers who pay this price, I guess there's no reason for them to lower it.

It does make you wonder where all these used games are coming from. Well, I really wish I didn't know, because the only thing more enraging than their used game pricing is their used game trade in "deal". So yesterday I went in to GameStop on my lunch break to pick up a copy of The Orange Box (Half-Life 2) for the Xbox 360. As I was checking out, the clerk decided to inform me of their gracious "game trade-in deal" they had going on. Basically it works like this. If I brink in any two games for any next-gen system, they're going to give me $10 off the purchase of another game.

So basically, GameStop is telling me that any title I bring in to them is only worth $5, even though they're going to turn around and sell it to someone else for $54.99. What! That's like over a 1000% markup on the title. Are you kidding me? I couldn't believe this "deal" the clerk was trying to tell me about. I literally had to hold back from laughing in the guys face. I couldn't believe it. I wish things could change, but as long as people keep bringing in trade-ins and buying used games, it will never end.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Immaturity from anonymity online

The internet is a great and powerful thing, but as we learn from the Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. The problem is that the majority of the people using this the internet abuse the power every day. While these people may be "normal" people in the real world (though many may not), when their online they just abuse the anonymity of their avatars and act like total jerks to complete strangers.

Last night is was just randomly surfing through a particular torrent sight (purely for educational purposed of course). While looking through the list of available files, I noticed one seed for a movie that I really wanted to see on the big screen. Since it was a "big feel" movie, I wasn't really interested in watching it on my little 20-inch Dell monitor, but I still clicked on the file to read through the comments. Here's what I found after reading just part way down the page.

Person A: "Quality, Someone please, Quality!"

Person B: "Download the sample you stupid noob"

Person A: "Oh I wish I was as smart as you, bet you have a small dick"

This is absolutely ridiculous. I literally burst out into laughter and couldn't believe the immaturity that could be displayed buy these two users in such a short time. Not only is this an example of how stupid people can be, but it shows how all it takes in one person to start it and then you just have this chain reaction of ignorant people who can't maintain a decent attitude within the digital space.

I would hope that both these guys would have been able to act normally had this same situation occurred in line for the movie at a theater, but online where each of them can hide behind a little screen name they feel they can just treat people however they want. Whether it's the mindset that the person they're talking to is just a name on a screen or whether they just feel safe and protected behind theirs, the net users get the false sense that they can do whatever they want without repercussions. While this is true, it doesn't give anyone the right to act in appropriately to anyone else just because they're not standing face to face.

I wish I could claim ignorance and say this case was isolated, but the truth is that this happens every day in forums all over the net. Maybe one day people will learn how to surf the net with respect.

posted by Christopher Schnese

When security just becomes annoying

Like many people around the world, I manage my banks accounts online. Now I'm not constantly making transaction after transaction, but the convenience of being able to log just to simply check how much money is in my account is just amazing. Unfortunately, my bank seems to be doing everything in its power to replace this convenience with frustration and annoyance.

When I first signed up for my online banking account, things were great. But recently, my bank decided it was time to step up their online security. I received an email that informed me that the next time I logged into the website I'd be prompted to answer five questions selection from a provided list and that these questions would be used at a late date to verify my identity.

Well, just as the email described, I was prompted to select 5 questions to answer upon my next login. The problem is that the questions were ridiculous. Not only was it a horrible selection of questions, but all of them could easily be answered with little or now research or knowledge of me as a person. Even choosing the most obscure questions could easily be answered after a casual conversation. And of course, there was no selection of "other" that would allow you to write up your own question. While this sounds bad enough on it's own, it actually gets worse.

Your typed answer is saved in exactly the format you've typed it, which means that whether or not you know you answer, if you type it just a little bit different, it's going to register as an incorrect answer. For instance, lets say that one of your security questions was "What is your cellular phone number?", and let's say your typed answer was "760-555-5555". Well, this could also be typed as "1-760-555-5555", "1.760.555.5555", "1 (760) 555-5555", or any number of combinations of the numbers and punctuation. So, even though you obviously know your own phone number, you might fail to "properly answer" when prompted for it.

This means that you have to write down all 5 of your answers to the questions you've selected. Sure this doesn't seem that bad, but what if you're out and about and you need to quickly access your banking information? You don't always have access to your pad of paper (or encrypted disc image in my case) to get into your correct answers when you want to view your banking information. Worst of all, if you incorrectly attempt to guess the password three times, the system turns off remote login and you're forced to call the bank and have them turn it back on.

This system is horrible and frankly inconvenient. Sure, I appreciate my bank trying to make my accounts more secure, but can't they find a better way? At the very least they should have a "limited access" login option that only lets you view account balances without having access to the money itself. something that doesn't force me to jump through hoops every time I'd like to view my account balance.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Today I became that which I hate

If you pay attention to the tech world or, for that matter, exist at all within out ever changing digital world, you're likely familiar with the term Digital Rights Management (DRM). This technology is an abomination and, in my opinion, a complete and total failure. Unfortunately, I've just been bestowed with the task of DRM'ing products for the audiobook company I work for.

You can say what you want about intellectual property theft and internet piracy, but the fact remains that DRM is not the answer to anything. Not only does it not work, but it actually hinders those without unlawful intentions. The fact of the matter is that people like me can get around any copy protection you can throw at us. Hell, if by some chance we can't find a way to break your encryption, we'll just take advantage of the analog hole and completely bypass your DRM all together.

The problem is that all the lawful consumers of copy protected content are constantly trapped behind the limitations that DRM brings to the table. Whether it's your operating system, media player, or portable device, you're going to find that the content you want to be available everywhere is simply locked out of just about everything.

If you can't tell already, I am adamantly against DRM. And like I said before, DRM cannot and doesn't stop me. It simply adds another meaningless step in the process of putting my content on whatever device I want it to be on. I just don't get how it could possibly make any business sense to lock your customers out of the products they're buying from you?

Well, as much as I hate DRM, it's now my new job. Due to a contractual obligation with some of the publishers we do business with, we have to copy protect some of the products. And guess what, now the biggest anti-DRM supporter in my office is tasked with DRM'ing some of our products. I spent most of the day working on re-implementing our current system. How ironic is that?

posted by Christopher Schnese

A tale of evaporating socks

Why is it that sock, out of all the garments we wear on a normal basis, have the greatest tendency to spontaneously disappear after every laundry cycle? Whether they're dissolving in the washer or evaporating in the dryer, it seems like every time I do a load of laundry my sock numbers are depleted by a small amount.

If you take a look through all my clothes, you'll find pairs of pants, boxers, undershirts, and t-shirts that I've been wearing for over a year. If you look through my sock drawer, or the magical void that should contain socks, you'd be hard pressed to find a single pair or stray sock that was older than a few months.

This is because I'm constantly forced to buy new packages every few months. Not because my socks are ruined or walling apart. I would be happy to replace my socks if it were simply to swap them fro a better pair. However, I'm constantly replacing them because they keep disappearing on me.

Just a few months ago I switched from wearing your normal white cotton socks to a nice black dress sock. I went out to Mervyn's and purchased 4 bags of these socks, each one containing 6 pairs of socks. At the time I thought, "this should be enough to last me almost three and a half weeks between washes". Well, here I am only a few months later and I magically have 5 pair left, which can't even last me one week.

I can't for the life of me figure out where the socks are going to. I don't do my laundry with anyone else's clothes, so they can't be mixed in with their stuff. I personally move all my laundry into the washer, then to the dryer, and then back to my room, so they can't be being misplaced by anyone else during transit. I just don't get it. It's almost as if they're getting up and walking out of my room during the night. I don't know what it is, but I'm getting tired of it. I think I need to go shopping again.

posted by Christopher Schnese