Parcival

Marroni thinks, this is a valid candidate for the Eurovision Song Contest:

Music the way we want it

I disagree with the analysts:

While industry analysts said Apple probably will lose market share in digital downloads as the majors gravitate away from DRM, the resulting increase in online music sales outlets will likely create a larger market for the ubiquitous iPod and emerging iPhone.

Source: Wired magazine

It’s a good decision that all major labels offer their music in DRM free formats. However, I am sceptic that they will achieve to break the dominance of the iTunes Music Store. After all, when you go (went) to a CD store you want to shop for a certain artist or song and don’t bother about the label behind it. Stripping the DRM from the music won’t break the iTunes Music Store’s dominance automatically, there’s only a chance if one builds a new competitor where all music is available as a DRM free purchase. I hardly believe customers will leave the Apple platform and search for their music on a couple other platforms instead.

In other words, most money could be made if all major labels offered their music DRM-free at the iTunes Music Store. And the fee Apple cashes in with every purchase is the penalty to the labels for not having created such a platform earlier.

Update: They are moving to Amazon.

The bitter end

The ultimate reason why Openoffice is better than Microsoft Office:

Microsoft Office Drops Support For Older File Formats

Please note: with free software (“free” as in “freedom”) this can’t happen because open standards permit access to your data anytime. It’s not necessarily a good idea to have a monopolist control your access to your data.