FREE
I read Nicholas Negroponte's book BEING DIGITAL sometime in the 90's. It taught me to understand the full potential of the Web and digital economy. Today it still seems prophetic even as some of its predictions have become true. Chris Anderson is a writer whose books expand on Negroponte's premises, to show the effect the Web has and will have on our culture and economy.
I am currently reading Chris Anderson's FREE: THE FUTURE OF A RADICAL PRICE. Anderson's last book, THE LONG TAIL told how the Web and digital technologies have allowed businesses to move past a “blockbuster” mentality, where only high selling products are offered, to one where multiple niches can be accommodated.
Free is an extension of that. When goods are digital, storage is cheap and distributon costs low, it has a lot of implications that amplify the differences between the world of “bits” and the world of “atoms”, to use Negroponte's terms. Anderson shows in an interesting and compelling way that the notion of Free is not a new one, but the Web and digital technologies make it especially relevant now. While certainly not all products will become free, more and more businesses will need to respond to this one way or another – by embracing it, or by competing with it. Examples: Cable TV vs Hulu, Microsoft vs. Open Source.
Of course businesses always have and always will need to make money. Anderson points to many of today's most successful and innovative businesses, such as Google, that, paradoxically, give away much of their services for free: in Google's case - search engine, Google Docs, Google Maps, GMail. Anderson argues that businesses are well advised to look at innovative ways to apply new technologies to embrace the radical price of Free.
True to form, versions of this book are free. See Anderson's blog for details.
I am currently reading Chris Anderson's FREE: THE FUTURE OF A RADICAL PRICE. Anderson's last book, THE LONG TAIL told how the Web and digital technologies have allowed businesses to move past a “blockbuster” mentality, where only high selling products are offered, to one where multiple niches can be accommodated.
Free is an extension of that. When goods are digital, storage is cheap and distributon costs low, it has a lot of implications that amplify the differences between the world of “bits” and the world of “atoms”, to use Negroponte's terms. Anderson shows in an interesting and compelling way that the notion of Free is not a new one, but the Web and digital technologies make it especially relevant now. While certainly not all products will become free, more and more businesses will need to respond to this one way or another – by embracing it, or by competing with it. Examples: Cable TV vs Hulu, Microsoft vs. Open Source.
Of course businesses always have and always will need to make money. Anderson points to many of today's most successful and innovative businesses, such as Google, that, paradoxically, give away much of their services for free: in Google's case - search engine, Google Docs, Google Maps, GMail. Anderson argues that businesses are well advised to look at innovative ways to apply new technologies to embrace the radical price of Free.
True to form, versions of this book are free. See Anderson's blog for details.
posted by Mike at 6:23 PM
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