Strike

More on the WGA strike

November 9, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Derek Powazek has written about the Writer’s Guild of America strike: Luddites on the Picket Lines? He’s right – the writers need to demonstrate that they understand the internet a lot better than they have so far.

But before you start talking about the internet, read up. Internet distribution is not the same as TV or DVD. A DVD buyer is someone who then owns a shiny plastic disc with stuff on it. Codifying a viewer online is a lot trickier. If I watch half a show on NBC.com, do you get half a royalty? What if I only watched 12 minutes, while the browser was in the background, while I was also chatting and texting and doing whatever it is the kids do nowadays?

There is a distinction between, say, a paid download from iTunes and a YouTube viewing, and if the writers want a percentage of the latter, well, they’re going to be waiting a long time.

A techie on the writer’s strike

November 6, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Marc Andreessen has written an interesting post about the Hollywood writer’s strike: Suicide by strike. The title’s a bit misleading though – his main questions are about the bosses, not the workers.

You’re faced with a massive, once-in-a-lifetime shift in mainstream consumer behavior from traditional mass media, including film and television, to new activities that you do not control. […]
Is this really the right time to pick a fight with the writers over royalties from DVD and Internet sales, leading to an industry-wide shutdown and massive economic pain for all sides in the world of traditional scripted film and television content?

I’m not a huge

July 19, 2001 by Michael Boyle

tea-leaf reader when it comes down to predicting/analyzing Microsoft’s moves, but it strikes me that their recent announcements are doing two things: one, they’re catalyzing the “anti-MS” developer communities to the extent that maybe, just maybe, real alternatives will result, real interop up and down the business. Two, though, they’re very brashly going for lock-in like never before, seemingly trying to make the world in their own image.

Of course those two propositions are related. But it’s interesting that by (arguably) going further even than they were found guilty of last year, they may be helping to sow the seeds for that decision to be blown away – with the introduction of real competition. Or at least not to be the cause of complaint in the future.

Web aficionados everywhere

June 13, 2001 by Michael Boyle

will join me in congratulating Heather on 5 years of Jezebel. Newbies may be interested in checking out the Jezebel time line to learn that yes, there is hope. As well, it strikes me that Heather herself has made the perfect means of congratulating her: send a Jezebel postcard!

Poking around at

March 14, 2001 by Michael Boyle

the O’Reilly Network and associated sites this morning. Bopping around from politics to introductions to things I’m starting to play with and stuff. So far, I’ve come across the following interesting new (and no so new) stuff: The CSS Anarchist Strikes Again!; Is Open Source Un-American?; a bunch of OnLamp PHP articles; and Code + Law: An Interview with Lawrence Lessig.