From: edward@jungco.com
Date: Fri Sep 08 2000 - 11:38:43 PDT
avid stazer)>, "chrissm@microsoft.com (christopher smith)" <chrissm@microsoft.com (christopher smith)>, "donbrad@microsoft.com (don bradford)" <donbrad@microsoft.com (don bradford)>, "tschlein@kpcb.com (ted schlein)" <tschlein@kpcb.com (ted schlein)>, "jim.edlin@webmond.com" <jim.edlin@webmond.com>
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One of the unfortunate things I've discovered about media corporate execs is that a high fraction of them appear to have =
low opinions of the user base.
I've met Redstone, Malone, Ovitz, and Diller. They let slip a surprising disdain for the very users that made them their =
money; phrases like "trailer trash", "idiots", and "suckers" come to mind.
As long as as an exec feels superior to his user base, denial comes easily.
Edward
Original Message:
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From: dave@scripting.com (DaveNet email)
Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 15:58:36 GMT
Subject: Denial isn't just a river in Egypt
[snip]
Here's the message that the music industry appears to be in denial on. Your users want control. They've found out how won=
derful it is when they can do what they want. Now find a place to fit in. The more lawsuits you file, the more headlines =
you grab, the more your relationship with your users is poisoned. The technology industry learned this lesson over copy p=
rotection, now you're part of the technology industry too. The lesson is that we exist to serve the users. When they ask =
for a feature, compete to give it to them. This means ripping up the rail every ten years and doing it all over again. Ge=
t used to it. This is not the end of the road, for sure.
I heard Sumner Redstone speak at the same conference I heard Clinton at. He said "99 percent of the creative people in th=
e world live within a hundred miles of my office." The thought that formed in my head was "Off to the glue factory!"
Users are creative too. Users can be revolutionary. You guys are like Ceausescu after the revolution in Rumania. Sitting =
in jail with his wife, he might have said "The revolutionaries aren't going to go away completely."
The best advice I can offer the music industry based on my experience in tech is to give the users what they want. Don't =
try to negotiate. Just give it to them.
Dave
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(c) Copyright 1994-2000, Dave Winer. http://davenet.userland.com/.
"It's even worse than it appears."
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