Our favorite privacy violator has updated Hangouts to include SMS (text) integration. According to a fierce debate, Google opted not to include SMS backups to their cloud in fear of user privacy concerns.
Google is already all over my privacy so uploading my sms’ to their cloud doesn’t bother me. The stuff they got on me through my use of Gmail and Youtube and Chrome and Search and Android and Google Docs and Google Keep and Google Plus and Google Drive does bother me.
Google Keep is cool because it has search. However, they should let you share cards so that individual cards can become visible to several people. A Public checklist for example, or instructions to give someone. They should be editable by participants or locked but visible. I think it could work and it teaches Google what type of topics or interests similar groups of people share and consequently lets Google build a better relationship map in their database. Gotta make sure Google gets their share too.
Lady Gaga isn’t a marketing genius. She is a weirdo. Richard Branson isn’t a marketing genius. He’s a weirdo. All successful people are originals (weirdos) and the rest strive to copy them. Be weird. Be original. Maybe you’ll be successful at what you do. But WEIRDNESS is a must.
Software piracy is bad in most cases, especially when it involves frivolously indulging in all kinds of loot found on The Pirate Bay for the sake of simple entertainment. But what about the first-time entrepreneur who self-teaches a pirated copy of Photoshop to make a logo for her first website? Or the YouTube poster who tries his hands on professional video editing software to make his videos look better? These people might also be pirates but their impact on the organizations they pirate from is negligible at worst and beneficial at best.
The software put out by giants like Adobe is made for a professional crowd and priced thereafter. Their customers rely on their software to make a living; buying it is an investment rather than an expense. What Adobe isn’t relying on is selling a few extra copies of its software to curious teenagers or people looking for an alternative to Windows Paint. Software piracy is only a problem if it hurts sales. Everything else is just free marketing. If {insert big company} wasn’t expecting you to buy their product (because you aren’t their customer and can’t afford it in the first place) it doesn’t hurt them. If you are using Adobe Illustrator to make squiggly graphics on your spare time you aren’t hurting Adobe’s bottom line because you would have never been a paying customer.
Having people all over the world using your software without hurting your bottom line sounds like an ideal marketing campaign, and it is. Droves of people start learning your software, their peers will take up interest and you receive free brand awareness. All this knowledge and goodwill towards your company will be paid back when these people become professionals and purchase your software for their business needs. Don’t look at it as piracy, look at it as early adoption. Or even freemium.
People who grow up around renowned pirated software products tend to stick with them in the future as well. A skilled teenage Photoshop hobbyist might turn into a graphic designer after a few years who subsequently starts a company. Companies can’t afford to risk it with pirated software and will invest in the real deal. Plus, paying for software that actually lets you earn revenue doesn’t feel like a waste of money. It feels like (and is) an investment.
Legal piracy already exists. It’s called freemium. This model builds on everything explained above and lets the professionals pay for premium services, lets the noobs play around without risking fines or imprisonment and most importantly lets the fledgling entrepreneurs start out with minimal investment and grow with the software.
If anything, piracy is the result of incompatible world views and freemium has addressed that. Rather than making software one-size-fits-all it can now be handed out in bite-sized portions. Sample, eat one item or order the whole menu. Its fair, its modern and its here to stay.
I took this video in Vang Vieng, Laos in 2012. I threw some Gucci Mane on top to make it bump!
The site has been updated and refurbished from the ground up. Some parts were recycled and others were simply improved.
