Comments on: ms death knell? http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/ "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards" Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:17:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: larry borsato http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3146 larry borsato Wed, 22 Dec 2004 00:29:27 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3146 <strong>They're not dead yet.</strong> I love reading gapingvoid; it's always so entertaining. But sometimes Hugh goes overboard. It's a bit early to sound a death knell for Microsoft. This is a company with revenue in 2004 of almost $40 billion, and increasing, even through... They’re not dead yet.

I love reading gapingvoid; it’s always so entertaining. But sometimes Hugh goes overboard. It’s a bit early to sound a death knell for Microsoft. This is a company with revenue in 2004 of almost $40 billion, and increasing, even through…

]]> By: Qumana Blog http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3145 Qumana Blog Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:21:11 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3145 <strong>RAP (Rapid Assembly Posting) - the Blogging World's Answer to Rap Music</strong> Hugh Macleod of Gaping Void gets into one of the most interesting areas of impact the Web has on <a href="http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001189.html" rel="nofollow">the ... RAP (Rapid Assembly Posting) — the Blogging World’s Answer to Rap Music

Hugh Macleod of Gaping Void gets into one of the most interesting areas of impact the Web has on the …

]]> By: Andreas http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3144 Andreas Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:48:43 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3144 PS: I offered Hugh help to publish the Hughtrain. He hasn't been in touch since ;) /end shameless plug. PS: I offered Hugh help to publish the Hughtrain. He hasn’t been in touch since ;) /end shameless plug.

]]> By: Andreas http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3143 Andreas Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:46:56 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3143 This is exactly what we are experiencing. I own a company, Publish and be damned, that allows authors to become independent publishers themselves, totally bypassing traditional as well as vanity (or subsidy) publishers. When we first started out we thought that the majority of our customers would be authors who had previously been turned down by established publishing houses. Not so. More and more authors are turning to us, having actually ditched their publishers. We have been operating for six months now, in that time we have helped to publish over 70 books. Four of these were established authors who have clawed back the copyright for their work and are now going it alone. The reasons: Control and money. Mid-list authors are very badly served by publishers, simply because they don't make enough money to support a large support staff, corner offices and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. As a result they are used to taking care of marketing and PR themselves - the publisher won't do it for them. For these authors independent publishing makes total sense. They still have the same amount of work, yet the financial rewards are much higher. To give an example: One of our customer's books sold about 70.000 copies. He made, after tax, about This is exactly what we are experiencing.
I own a company, Publish and be damned, that allows authors to become independent publishers themselves, totally bypassing traditional as well as vanity (or subsidy) publishers.
When we first started out we thought that the majority of our customers would be authors who had previously been turned down by established publishing houses.
Not so.
More and more authors are turning to us, having actually ditched their publishers. We have been operating for six months now, in that time we have helped to publish over 70 books. Four of these were established authors who have clawed back the copyright for their work and are now going it alone.
The reasons: Control and money. Mid-list authors are very badly served by publishers, simply because they don’t make enough money to support a large support staff, corner offices and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. As a result they are used to taking care of marketing and PR themselves — the publisher won’t do it for them. For these authors independent publishing makes total sense. They still have the same amount of work, yet the financial rewards are much higher.
To give an example: One of our customer’s books sold about 70.000 copies. He made, after tax, about

]]> By: Hamish http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3142 Hamish Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:33:45 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3142 Hmmmm What I see is a lot of lawyer bullshit building up, like patenting business methods and software and so on. Microsoft cannot innovate, but they can stomp your innnovative fast moving little ass with big lawsuits for having copied some of "their" ideas. If you look at Open Source, the best example of this for the moment is the on-going, and frankly bizarre claim by the SCO group to own LINUX's code. If you want more on this go to www.groklaw.com This is way of the future. Get a market, get the fundamentals, and then lawyer the shit out of anyone who tries to come into the same area. For other big patent holders, you have the "if you sue me, I'll sue you" defence, as they all have a good portfolio. For the small guys, no chance in hell. Gah. Anyway, on a lighter note, glad to hear that the wallet is filling up a bit. Here at Hamish mansions I'm doing all I can to empty the damn thing into the nearest branch of a toyshop in time for Xmas. (Actually, on that subject... I live in a french speaking country, and they used to have a branch of "Toys R Us" in town, only it failed, because nobody really got what "Toeusroos" was. Name only works in English, so the local outfit, King Jouet took the market completely. Think global, act local as the hackneyed phrase from the 90s has it. Hmmmm
What I see is a lot of lawyer bullshit building up, like patenting business methods and software and so on. Microsoft cannot innovate, but they can stomp your innnovative fast moving little ass with big lawsuits for having copied some of “their” ideas.
If you look at Open Source, the best example of this for the moment is the on-going, and frankly bizarre claim by the SCO group to own LINUX’s code. If you want more on this go to http://www.groklaw.com
This is way of the future. Get a market, get the fundamentals, and then lawyer the shit out of anyone who tries to come into the same area. For other big patent holders, you have the “if you sue me, I’ll sue you” defence, as they all have a good portfolio. For the small guys, no chance in hell.
Gah. Anyway, on a lighter note, glad to hear that the wallet is filling up a bit. Here at Hamish mansions I’m doing all I can to empty the damn thing into the nearest branch of a toyshop in time for Xmas. (Actually, on that subject… I live in a french speaking country, and they used to have a branch of “Toys R Us” in town, only it failed, because nobody really got what “Toeusroos” was. Name only works in English, so the local outfit, King Jouet took the market completely. Think global, act local as the hackneyed phrase from the 90s has it.

]]> By: hugh macleod http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3141 hugh macleod Tue, 21 Dec 2004 19:07:59 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3141 Agreed. Littering the skies with golden parachutes is a perfectly valid exit strategy. ...Especially if you own one of the golden parachutes ;-) Agreed. Littering the skies with golden parachutes is a perfectly valid exit strategy.
…Especially if you own one of the golden parachutes ;-)

]]> By: troy worman http://gapingvoid.com/2004/12/21/ms-death-knell/#comment-3140 troy worman Tue, 21 Dec 2004 19:03:02 +0000 http://gapingvoid.com/?p=1090#comment-3140 I agree. No open source will be the death knell of MS. And the day MS "dies" the skies will be littered with golden parachutes. I agree. No open source will be the death knell of MS. And the day MS “dies” the skies will be littered with golden parachutes.

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