Does a Free Download Equal a Lost Sale?
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As more economists study the economics of downloading music freely, the consensus will likely be that it does hurt sales of music, but how much?
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A customer filed a $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy for losing an $1100 laptop she took in for service. The reason, exposure to identity theft.  It's about time vendors were forced to recognize the value of customers' data. I recall how the chief genius at the Apple store in Emeryville complained that they would have to eat the cost of the drive in a deal they made with the manufacturer. Someday they'll have a clue that the data on most drives is worth far more than the hardware, and that their potential liability, if the data ends up in the hands of an identity thief, is also much greater.
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Slammed for touting unavailable but unlicensed content
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The latest craze in software: giving stuff away. BEA Systems, Computer Associates and IBM all recently started releasing the source code, or underlying instructions, for some programs, which amounts to distributing those products free. Even the loosest definition of incentive rebates would probably stop short of 100% discounts, but then the economics of software are peculiar (see story, p. 161). The giveaways were celebrated, especially by the noisy "open-source" movement, which wants all software distributed this way. (They're not kidding.)
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Microsoft is testing a new feature on its Download Centre website that can lock out pirated copies of Windows. During the test period, users of Download Centre can opt to have the Windows software installed on their PCs validated as genuine.
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Pre-release builds offered for download via BitTorrent
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A licensing agreement currently in the final stages of negotiation may provide consumers with the right to legally make copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they've purchased. Such an arrangement would address a primary concern of DRM critics, who argue that consumers deserve the right to create backups without being accused of piracy.
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Apple has announced that it will drop prices on its DRM-free AAC downloads to $0.99, the same price as all other single-song downloads. Amazon responded by giving its affiliates a 20% cut of all sales.
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Other than the Linux version shipping this quarter, the vendor still hasn't said much, like which features will be provided free to existing customers and which will be considered options and will incur a separate charge.
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The store chain will launch a Web DVD rental service like Netflix -- only cheaper. Also: American troops get access to Napster & hellip;. Microsoft offers XP lite in Asia to recapture business lost to Linux, piracy & hellip;. and more.
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Visitors with a pirated copy of Windows may lose easy access to company's Download Center.
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Microsoft is applying for a patent for an operating system that starts out crippled.  You must pay to do things like take the throttle off network speed, disk access, install drivers, install software, and more.  Trust me, I rarely even visit Groklaw, even if this is my second consecutive blog entry with a link to a Groklaw article. My VarLinux.org readers posted the article, A Brave New Modular World, and I had to share it.
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Adware - Are Downloads Safe?  Developers offering downloads are paying the price for the malformed truths that have been put forth regarding downloads. While not a political campaign the smears are ever present in the adware arena.  Years ago developers saw they could monetize freeware that was becoming expensive to host. Developers ...
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Got backup? How about a new 1-terabyte drive for $70 off the usual price?
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Are you paying for things you have no use for?
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Businesses don&#39;t have to dump Windows to test drive free or low-price applications whose use may improve the bottom line. Sometimes the big software vendors act like their customers are locked into the proprietary products they sell.
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Tycho:  It's floating around now, out there on the Wub, and it calls to you.  Or maybe it does, I don't actually know.  In any case, it can be got from 3D Downloads, the Fileplanets, GamersHell, or WorthDownloading.  Download it from mulltiple sites simultaneously for a naughty thrill.  God only knows how this would run on my Vista rig at home, but it's a Vista rig, so you can probably guess.  (CW)TB