🚀 go-pugleaf

From: holtz@netcord.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Holtz)
| 
| In article <1090@hertz.sbi.com> ram@hertz.sbi.com (Srinivasan Sriram) writes:
| 
| >	Who is in control of dispersing the data. (Like Cable 
| >	TV companies and cable channel producers), will they
| >	impose a set of guidelines, rules or restrictions on
| >	how much money and to whom.
| 
| It won't be any of their business.  The phone company has no control
| over my computer dialing your computer and trading bits.  I didn't say
| there won't be money in wiring houses for data communications.  What I
| said is that there won't be money in hoping that people will try
| to get copies of your data only from _you_.
---

Well, I would guess that a few years down the road computer software (as
well as audio and video software) will be mostly pay-per-use.  Once the
distribution technology is to the point that you can handle the volume,
it makes a lot more sense for both buyers and sellers. I've got a lot of
records (and programs) that I would have saved a lot on if I had paid a
lower price for one or two uses.  And I'd guess publishers will use
encryption and interactive license managers to enforce the charging scheme.

---
| 
| >	I think publishing houses will abound, who will directly 
| >	or indirectly influence the nature and cost of data/
| >	instructions dispersed to the consumer.
| 
| It's trivial to influence the circumstances surrounding the first time
| your data are received by a consumer.  The problem lies in influencing
| the 2nd through nth times that your data are so received.
---
If you assume the consumer is always in contact with the vendor, it
should be straightforward to verify (and bill for) each use of a
software object.  We already have publishers giving out free copies of
their software that can be activated by obtaining a license over the
telephone; it's not a big step from that to obtaining a license at each
use, once you assume you're always connected.

I recommend to those interested in possible futures for information
distribution, the SF book "Farewell Horizontal" by KW Jeter, which
includes as part of its flavoring a pretty well developed picture of
an information industry that we could get to in a relatively short time.
--
scott preece
motorola/mcg urbana design center	1101 e. university, urbana, il   61801
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