Yummy, I love Sea Kittens..
Regalame de pescado a la plancha!!
The "free" philosophy has helped put a few nails in the coffin of the newspaper industry. And it'll seal a few more coffins before we're all done with it.
This recklessly used idea disgusts me.
Most of the people who chant the "information want to be free" mantra probably haven't read the whole quote, or they'd probably STHU.
Stewart Brand said: "On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other." (from http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/IW.../II/IWtbF.html)
So it's more like "information distribution wants to cost less," which is a much less catchy, and distinctly different, argument. Sounds to me like Brand is arguing that people ought to be willing to pay for value -- in other words, good old-fashioned capitalism.
Sea Kittens sounds like an upcoming Playboy pictorial. Chicken of the Sea was a brilliant concept in getting people to sample and adopt Tuna. Kittens of the Sea just sounds brain dead. (Which is why it will have some appeal).
Giving TAC his due - his book is free. I don't know if it wanted to be or not, but it is. And it is worth the download.
Have a good weekend!
Re Seth Godin's brilliant post (he does indeed nail it), my experience of trying to work with one very large corporation on writing tasks is that they consider writing, or ideas, or anything associated with such 'work,' to be virtually irrelevant. After four successive, identical experiences I fired them. Each time, the lame-brain supposed to supervise the task (a different lame-brain each time) arrived 30-45 minutes late for the scheduled meeting and didn't have a project description, schedule, technical resources or a budget, and no apparent idea how to get these desiderata. This immense Silicon Valley corporation is a household name but I make a point of never buying their products or services.
"I'll have a Brandy Alexander." Haha hahahaha hahaha haha hahahaha ha.
Re: Read This Post
I blogged that piece last month:
NostraChuckus Scratches His Head
And I blogged a piece of yours yesterday:
Facts
And don't forget the original 'free' book. Getting it was much more fun than simply turning on your computer and scrolling.
Bob,
I've read Free already (paid for it, at a bookstore, how old-fashioned of me), and what amused me about the book is that most of what he's talking about as a "new economic model" is, exactly as you say, sampling.
Free isn't a new economic model
—it's bankruptcy and starvation if it's all you've got. Not an economic model at all. And "freemiums," giving part of what you do away to get folks to buy the bigger stuff, isn't new.
Still, the book had lots of good thoughts in it. Worth the price, just not the revelation folks are yapping about—a lot his Long Tail.
Regards,
Kelly
Seth get's it right very often. I like Seth, he's like you without the ardent use of the word bullshit. However I do like peppered speech. I like you too.
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